Juke, a genre of music characterized by drum machine beats, chopped vocal samples, and a blistering tempo of 160 BPM, is a sound popularized by Chicago’s inner city youth. So it’s funny to see DJ Rashad — a producer who is beginning to become the external face of the sound — included on the set list for an event featuring the lo-fi rock of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti as its headliner. But as juke gains traction with a global audience, it gets placed in an entirely new context from that of basements holding forth footwork dance battles. And anybody who brings that style here for New Yorkers to experience firsthand is cool people in this writer’s book.
Inverted Cosmos, the Bushwick warehouse party that played host to Rashad, was eventually shut down by the police a few hours after the year came to an end. But in its wake remained an expansive floor littered with mounds of plastic cups, a long row of porta-potties, and towering speaker stacks left like Easter Island relics — anthropological evidence of a great party.
Weird Magic, one of the event organizers, posted a holiday present by the artist on their web site in the form of a MPFree of “Love U Found”. The track starts off by rotating between some half time high hats and beatless keys that hold the rhythm before offering a taste of the franticness to come in the form of a rapid polyrhythm. Soon, everything drops and the chopped Michael sample that’s been struggling to croon is let loose, only to be smashed by wild bass drums at full speed. The initial phrase is repeated with some subtle alterations like the addition of rim shots. But the next drop launches some Bolt speed piano stabs and a thinner percussive base. This leads breathlessly into the finale that rides over frequently introduced drum loop layers. Here, it goes easy on the vocal chops and features some neatly warbled synths. The synths slowly rise in pitch and get marked with effected cadences that melodically bounce beyond the pull of gravity. A last second surprise croon drops, followed by some quick bass drum madness, then all goes dark. “Found” is included on his Just A Taste EP.
DJ Rashad – “Love U Found” (download)
