Where to start. I suppose thinking about writing this post I had in mind that I was going to completly slate the raft of utter bollix coming out these days that most people seem to think is the best thing ever. Im talking about Footwerk. Of course, it isnt exactly a new thing with the music being around long before Dj Godfather launched Juke Traxx, an offshoot of Databass circa 2004 which was the first "major" label to distribute Juke Music exclusively. In fact, many say that the movement itself has been going since 1996. Waxmasters eponymous Footwork appeared on Dance Mania that year with the current poster boys of the scene Dj Spinn and Rashad releasing their debut 8 years later.I was half expecting Mad Decent to lead the charge on this one much like they polluted many the ear with Baltimore Club Music 2 years ago and then quickly sent it packing as soon as something else they could flog came along. To me, the production values that went into a Baltimore club remix of Mr Postman are still annoyingly present in todays craze, just have a listen to any of the tracks on Planet Mu's Bangs & Works Comp to get an idea of what I mean. No track over 3 minutes in length. All at 160-170 bpm and sounding like they were made without actually listening to what was going on. This seems to be the modus operandi with todays Footwork but, as I said, I thought I was just going to slate this movement but the actual fact of the matter is that we are really only seeing a snapshot of what all this is about. For me, the music would be first and foremost and in that respect the piss poor production quality is easy to laugh at but the fact of the matter is that 99% of these tracks are made for people to "battle" to. Something I cant really see Dubliners in the Twisted Pepper doing on a saturday night so why do Dublin Dj's play this stuff? I think most people this side of the pond have latched onto this because its "new" has lots of sub and some of the big guys are playing it. The reality of the matter is that something new will have come around by this time next year and my facebook page will be free of people posting youtube links to Footwork. Heres hoping anyway.
Dj Trouble - Bangs & Works
