Da Trak Genious

DJ Nate

Released on 01/09/2010 by Planet Mu Records Ltd.
Main artists: DJ Nate
Genre: Electronic

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DJ Nate's Da Trak Genious is a historically significant document, being the first Chicago footwork album to receive worldwide release and press attention, courtesy of British electronic label Planet Mu. Mike Paradinas had found Nate's music on a blog and drew parallels between its frenetic energy and the British jungle and hardcore scenes, even though the music sounded worlds apart. The album baffled many of the label's fans at the time, but open-minded listeners realized, as Paradinas did, that this was something legitimately new and different. The album's 25 tracks were made by a teenaged Nate in order to soundtrack high school dance battles, and were originally uploaded to YouTube or various music platforms which have since shuttered. This is raw, unfettered music which clearly exists for the purpose of expressing manic, youthful energy rather than any sort of commercial aspirations. Without watching videos of the dance battles, it's difficult to imagine anyone dancing to music with such fast, twisted beat patterns and mashed-up samples, but once you pick up on the groove and the style makes sense, it's downright addictive. And while several of the tracks are directly related to the dance battle theme, there's a surprising amount of emotional range here, from the sinister, fearsome "Halloween Wurks" to the outward sentimentality of R&B-sampling cuts like "May Be Sum Day." Nate proves his skill at unconventional sample flipping -- the tracks that sound like Portishead caught in a washing machine spin cycle are built around samples of the bombastic goth-pop group Evanescence, and the producer's looped voice sputters over a mutated aria during "He Ain't Bout It." Utterly bizarre and bewildering. Following this album's release, Planet Mu released two Bangs & Works collections which rounded up highlights of the footwork scene up to that point, then went on to issue EPs and full-lengths by other artists featured on the compilations, such as DJ Rashad and Jlin. Nate, however, had drifted away from the style and began staking out a career as a hip-hop and R&B artist, scoring a regional Chicago hit with 2012's "Gucci Goggles." While he would gradually return to footwork by the end of the decade, he was absent for the movement's global expansion, and his music remains a preserved-in-amber encapsulation of the sheer power of the style in its formative state.

© Paul Simpson /TiVo

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Da Trak Genious

DJ Nate

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