Mindblowing, refreshing new tracks from Chicago-based Footwork King DJ Nate aka Nathan Clark on Planet Mu!
Well known within Chicago for his Footwork Traks, which are instrumental tracks in the genre known as "Juke", made for Footwurking, or Jukin', a dance similar to Jit, which has it's roots in African dancing (according to conversations I've had with some of these guys). The Juke sound has its roots in Chicago House, Ghettotech, Booty House and is recognisably a manic sped up version of this. It is sometimes hard to draw a definite line between Juke and Footwork tracks but to generalise, Footwork tracks (or maybe the sort of Footwork tracks I'm interested in) utilise samples from pop and hip hop, pitching, layering and triggering them in a rhythmic manner, mirroring the rhythm of the feet in the dance. The dance battles mean that some of the tracks repeat the dancers' names in a kind of repetitive mantra, which i find hypnotising, sometimes the track will go through the names of an entire squad (Y.P.S, Heat Squad etc.) as they take the circle.
Chicago Footwork and Juke have had a massive influence on UK based producers such as Ramadanman, Ikonika and Addison Groove but this is the first time music from this genre has had a release outside of the US! Six hypnotic tracks that combine with the sparser drum patterns, often with busy fills, hyper vocal snippets, relentless triplets and off-kilter accents that mirroring the speed of the dance! HEAVY!!!! Highly Recommended!