- If you want to understand DJ/rupture's music without hearing it, read his blog. Recent musings glanced Croatian hip-hop, Arabic classical, books by Polish journalists on Iranian history and talking Mattel dolls that may or may not endorse Islam (with links en ingles y español). When musing takes too long, he hoses you down with MP3s. He's a modern internationalist. He's more theoretician than musician, and more dilettante than devotee. But these are compliments—in the seven years since his debut mix Gold Teeth Thief, he's demonstrated listening habits so broad and thoughtful that I'd follow his leads to the ends of the earth (though the auto-tuned cumbia endorsement was a test of faith).
Rupture's mixes play on the way sounds clash, not blend—that's fine. You can't make post-global culture without breaking a few psychogeographical barriers. But one clever juxtaposition can prove this point as well as a thousand screaming voices—a possibility Rupture sometimes abandons as he piles on track after track on his way to sonic overload.
In a recent Fact interview, Rupture conceded Uproot would be a sleeper: "I did the crazy dynamic three-deck thing in the past, so… I wanted to make more of a field of sound for you to sink into." Using dubstep as a guiding principle, he weaves older tracks and live recordings into exclusives (often from his own Soot label), emphasizing cold space and deep bass. Rupture's eclecticism isn't defined by sonic opposites on his tracklist, but his ability—and willingness—to reconcile them. Sure, mapping this all out would be fun. Just dropping the fact that Clouds, who offer two of this mix's best tracks, are DIY dubstep from Finland goes a long way in proving the reach of contemporary music.
But that's an obvious point to make. It's Rupture's method that surprises. Uproot—one of the best mixes of the year in any genre—proves what his past mixes didn't imagine possible: when used well, a little restraint is more freeing than chaos.
Tracklist 01. Baby Kites and Nokea - Reef
02. Clouds - Elders
03. Istari Lasterfahrer - Bang Soundboy
04. Nokea - Cassava
05. Atki2 - Winter Buds
06. Maga Bo feat. Max Normal - Homeboys
07. Clouds - Too Much
08. Ekstrak - Mass Dampers
09. Frescoe - Afghanistan
10. Iron Shirt - Gave You All My Love (Matt Shadetek's I Gave You All My Dub)
11. Jenny Jones - Capilano Bridge
12. Ekkehard Ehlers - Plays John Cassavetes Pt. 2
13. Stalker - Radios Et Announceurs
14. Ghislain Poirier feat. Jhonel - Ignadjossi
15. Filastine - Hungry Ghosts (Instrumental)
16. Scuba - Braille Diving
17. Quest – Mirage / Team Shadetek - Brooklyn Anthem (A Cappella)
18. Shackleton - Naked / Brent Arnold - Erhu Solo
19. Timeblind - Strategy Decay / MagaBo - 3akel (A Cappella)
20. Moving Ninja - Uranium
21. Professor Shehab + lloop - Drunken Monkey (Ambient Remix)
22. Dead Leaf - Save from the Flames All That Yet Remains
23. We(TM) - Second-Hand Science