- Though Jana Rush is probably a new name to most fans of footwork, she's long been in the scene's inner circle, regularly attending juke and footwork events. But the Chicago native's debut—in which she was billed as "The Youngest Female DJ"—came out, in 1996, on Dance Mania. (She was 15 at the time.) Rush started DJing at ten, and was taught to mix by Jam Master K and Gant-Man. She hung out with DJ Rashad and other scene-defining artists until, under pressure from her parents, she pursued non-musical professions. (She's now a chemical engineer and CAT scan technologist.) Last year, Rush resurfaced with a footwork EP on Objects Ltd., as JA Ru, which laid out a powerful and unorthodox take on the style. The music on Pariah, her debut album, runs up and down the spectrum of footwork—from smooth DJ Rashad soul cut-ups to spiky drum tracks in the vein of Jlin—with the ease of someone who's watched the form evolve over decades.
Rush has a natural way with rhythm, making grooves that sound like they're about to come off the rails while remaining in firm control. This dexterity goes beyond genre. "Break It" is halftime footwork, but its percussion is all over the map: the snare moves at house tempo and the kick drum is an eye-watering 240 BPM. It's one of the most dizzying footwork tracks—if you could even call it that—in recent memory. "Frenetic Snare," one of the LP's most fluid cuts, fuses footwork and breakbeats. Acid leads surface on "No Fuks Given" and "Acid Tek 2." Even when using typical footwork tropes, like flipping a Peech Boys sample on "Rapid Fire," bright sounds become jagged and foreboding.
On "Beat Maze," Pariah's most exciting track, Rush pulls footwork apart and puts its pieces back together in dizzying patterns, while whooshing samples played in reverse add a trippy sense of motion. The backwards sounds on "Beat Maze" are a good example of Rush's attention to detail. She writes uptempo music using a microscope, adding thoughtful touches that augment the music's raw surges of energy. Rush's unpredictable approach could be summed up by what she told the Chicago Tribune last month: "I refuse to marry a genre, because I don't feel like I've found the genre that's right for me." It's this perspective that makes her one of footwork's most exciting breakthrough artists.
Tracklist01. Midline Shift
02. Beat Maze
03. Divine
04. ??? ??
05. Break It
06. No Fuks Given
07. Old Skool
08. Rapid Fire
09. Acid Tek 2
10. CPU
11. Chill Mode
12. Frenetic Snare