Best high-profile Chicago FOOTWORK artist releases of recent years

Personally I'm torn between Welcome to the Chi and Space Zone.

Other than scattered YouTube videos, I only really recently took the plunge into this stuff when I picked up the Young Smoke and Traxman albums. They're both pretty good, but the Young Smoke one just blows me away. Hopefully this poll can help me figure out which one to get next.

oh well def check out the last two Rashad releases - Rollin' and Welcome To The Chi then jon. Young smoke's a bit of an anomaly for Chi-Town footwork cos it actually sounds fairly polished and relatively focussed, but as I say it's quite different from the more "traditional" sound. Rashad's been on a really ambitious tip lately - very varied and surprisingly listenable.

it's either The Crack Capone or Hatas Our Motivation for me. there's also a DJ Spinn EP that's surprisingly consistent, can't recall which one now.

RP Boo's Legacy isn't out yet. you should've included Dude Off 59th Street instead.

♪♫ WELCOME TO THE SPACE ZOOONNNNEEEE ♪♫

Yeah I can't wait for Legacy, didn't realise it was yet to come out, it was on the planet mu site

Having heard the Young Smoke, Spinn, Traxman and Rashad - gotta go with Rashad's Tek 1.
For the last 6 months or so, this has felt like one of my faves of the last 10 years. I know nuthin bout nuthin, but the way he rides the kick is an epiphany.

That said, who should I check next on the list?? :)

Teklife 1 & 2 are the real high points for me and really, Rashad and Spinn are the best guys doing it. Their collaborative ep '4 The Ghetto' is great and contains the undeniable 'Space Juke' jam which hooked me a few months back. I've kept tabs on this stuff since it started popping outside of Chicago in, I guess, 2010ish, but it didn't really connect till recently. Now, it's the most satisfying music around. Also love DJ Diamond's 'Flight Muzik' and DJ Manny's 'Harvey World' (which has the most low end of anything I've heard in this genre).

Totally agree about it being the most satisfying music around. Physical AND moving things along in a modern way.
If you like Spinn and Rashad, check this Just Jam performance of theirs:

http://youtu.be/dCvww5BbAuI

Total command.

K. Gonna check the DJ Manny you mentioned now!

(Based on past experience, I'll assume my youtube link isn't embedded... what am I doing wrong here?)

Yes! Thanks for that. I've watched it a bunch. Also killer is DJ Taye's 'Overdoes on TEKLIFE.' Really anything 'Teklife' gets me salivating.

teklife vol 2 is amazing

check out "let me baby" and "dance floor packed"

man i feel like a doofus when a britisher starts this thread & i haven't heard practically any of it.

"horn chemist"!!!!

Legacy will be the best i think, i've heard most of the tracks on it.

Traxman pour moi

points against dj spinn: weeknd remix

Traxman pour moi

― paolo, Saturday, 20 April 2013 12:49 (Yesterday) Permalink

its crack

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Traxman bringing it, although I can't say I was all that thrilled by it personally

no idea about this stuff, but traxman youtubes working out p well. get down lil mah.

dude like hear the young smoke album right now

first track on traxman album is absolute killer, not as excited about the rest of it, had similar feelings re dj diamond and flight muzik

don't remember if i voted or not but would've gone for spinn

The Young Smoke album is exceptional and surprisingly accessible for footwork.

I didn't see this thread until just now. dunno who voted for the RP Boo album but it owns. his style is so unmistakeable. feel like all the ppl who post about this stuff on ILM like Young Smoke more than I do?

I'm afraid I voted Traxman as it's the only one know. Have a passing familiarity with DJ Rashad, but not enough to properly recommend. Traxman does rule, though.

i didn't vote in this because i couldn't decide. rashad is probably my most listened to, young smoke is dope, but i still get the biggest thrill factor out of those early dj nate tracks.

young smoke album is finally on spotify. which means i'm actually listening to it now.

traxman's 1988 song is seriously killer, though i remember thinking the album was really well done but not all that exciting... i should go back to it though. dj diamonds album is a personal favourite - i think he does 'downtempo'-ish footwork amazingly well. that first half of his album is one of my favourite sequences on a footwork album. i like rashad and spinn a lot but not sure if its that necessary to have them doing junglist footwork tracks really... great that theyre trying new things but it just seems a bit like wish fulfillment of all the people that were talking about how similar the two sounds are.

what's wrong with wish fulfillment

thought i voted for dj nate, guess not

new Rashad eh?

dj scholl

new collaborative album ft Rashad and two of his Teklife pals due in approx one month, preview track here http://www.dummymag.com/new-music/dj-rashad-moondoctor-freshtilldef-angel-dust

album is fun as hell based on first listen

Ooooooh I need to hear this asap

A friend helped the Teklife guys with the mix and master of a couple of releases in late-2011, early-2012. He told me that at the time, the guys were sharing one laptop. They would have five windows open simultaneously with each of their Myspaces on. So, it's probable that these Rashad and Manny and Spinn discs were all made on the same shared laptop, which is awesome? to me anyway

Moondoctor sends me lots of soundcloud spam

https://cakedog.bandcamp.com/

this is pretty great so far

i've been listening to the two rp boo albums and "mind of traxman vol. 2" a lot these past few weeks. ... does anybody listen to footwork anymore?

oh i just put vol. 1 on my ipod the other day

didn't realize there had been a vol. 2

yeah, it's pretty great. i really like the quality he gets out of the sounds, when it's loud they are spatial and arresting. i particularly liked the swarm of whistles in "blow your whistle" and the smeared-out overlapping kraftwerk samples in "computer getto".

http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/footwork-in-2015-dizzy-dance-music-evolves-past-its-chicago-roots-20150731

lol @ mark fell's maniacal trolling

"For me, footwork sounds like someone experimenting with a grid-based pattern entry system in a digital-audio workstation."

when it's loud they are spatial and arresting

i play a lot of black metal, tech-death, etc. in my little apartment and kind of wonder sometimes if the neighbors can hear anything or are bothered, but traxman is the first thing i've played in forever where i thought like, wuh oh now this sounds bonkers

that new jlin EP is ridiculously good. but other than that/her, im not so into a lot of current footwork stuff. not sure why.