- DJ Manny's second album for Planet Mu broadens footwork's future by blending it with a dizzying array genres and moods.
- Many of footwork's keenest disciples come from outside Chicago. There's the outlines label in Poland, which has been pushing the genre in new directions in measured, respectful ways, and there's UK label Planet Mu, which has been releasing juke and footwork from all over the US since 2010's Bangs & Works compilation. That record was a collection of the scene's most iconic tracks made by some of Chicago's most notable producers, including the late DJ Rashad. His legacy lives on through loyal Teklifers like DJ Manny, artists who stretch footwork's template by kneading new, outside ingredients into their musical dough. DJ Manny specifically combines outsider interest with Chicago cred. He played around with jungle, house and R&B on his debut LP Signals In My Head. That album established his "romantic footwork" style that he fine-tuned on the Control EP earlier this year. His second LP, Hypnotized, continues down the same path.
One of DJ Manny's greatest tricks is taking a motif of another genre or song and turning it into a tool for footwork. Jungle's Amen and Think breaks are a favourite of his, and "WTF Goin On" is his most inventive use of them yet, chopped so they have the same stuttery energy as footwork's percussion, but with added finesse. And the jagged synth arpeggios that pierce through "Overnight Flight"'s wide soundscape sound like a cutesier version of Martin Garrix's EDM megahit "Animals."
A purist might deem that sort of comparison crass, but that's another good thing about DJ Manny—his music is lighthearted and adventurous at the same time. The warbling of the electro-leaning "Opera" sounds almost clumsy when it clashes with tiptoeing bass (think Sylvester creeping up on Tweety), but also wonderfully melodramatic when it goes mezzo staccato like the chorus from Carl Orff's "O Fortuna." Unaccompanied piano chords on "I Can Love U" leave space for light wooden textures alongside deeper, groovier ones. And the earworm Bekon sample from Kendrick Lamar's "PRIDE" on "You n You" (with guest production from DJ Phil) glides over galloping kicks and chiptune synths.
"You n You" is a perfect partner to DJ Rashad's "Last Winter," an archival track at the centre of attention of Rashad's Double Cup tenth anniversary reissue on Partisan Records. Soulful (and familiar) vocals that soar over a spare template of buoyant sub bass and bright synths characterise both tracks—but the contemporary relevance of DJ Manny's sample, compared to Rashad's, is a small but important tweak. It's testament to the fact that, while there have been valiant efforts to reinvent footwork abroad, it's producers like DJ Manny, who were born and raised in Chicago, that can sound seamlessly like footwork's past and its future.
Tracklist01. Hard Drive feat. SUCIA!
02. WTF Goin On
03. Hypnotized
04. Ooh Baby feat. DJ Rashad
05. I Can Luv U
06. You N You feat. DJ Phil
07. Overnight Flight
08. Want U Bad
09. Turn Me Up
10. Opera
11. Lost In Da Jungle
12. Deep In My Mind