V/a / Bangs & Works Vol. 2: The Best Of Chicago Footwork

Planet Mu

Last year Planet Mu released Bangs & Works Vol. 1. The carefully curated compilation showcases Chicago footwork, one of the most forward-looking, innovative new styles of electronic music on the planet. Since its release, interest in the scene has grown to the point where Planet Mu was able to fly DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn and a number of footwork dancers to the UK and Europe for a tour. What’s more, footwork is beginning to spread outside of Chicago, influencing productions by not only Planet Mu artists such as Machinedrum and Kuedo, but many others as well. Bangs & Works Vol. 2 brings the focus back onto Chicago’s own producers, showing where the real innovation still lies. While its predecessor sticks mainly to the more hallucinatory and left-field elements, this one has a wider remit, ranging from mad techno-style tracks such as DJ Metro’s “Tekno Bangz” or DJ T-Why’s immense “Juice” and ‘Finished” to those that sound like musique concrete gone footwork, like Young Smoke’s “Space Muzik Part 3.” Others like Traxman’s “Funky Block” and DJ Clent’s “DJ Clent #1” display the obvious influence of flipping samples, hip hop style to the rhythms of footwork, while DJ Rashad & Gant-Man’s amazing “Heaven Sent” shows the influence of P-funk and Detroit’s hi-tech soul. The album features established producers who’ve come up through the juke and ghetto house scenes as well as younger ones who are still making their way. On the whole, footwork’s synapse-snapping intensity is ever present, but this selection shows an even wider diversity to the genre’s independent and unique production focus.

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