24 year old Chicago-based footwork producer DJ Diamond (real name Karlis Griffin) has been making tracks since his early teens, though in more recent years he’s been better known for heading up Chicago’s Flight Muzik producer collective. After two of his tracks made appearances on last year’s ‘Bangs & Works Vol.1′ footwork compilation from Planet Mu, this debut album ‘Flight Muzik’ offers up Griffin’s first official CD release, on the heels of numerous locally-released mix sessions. It’s Griffin’s use of unexpected sonic textures and atmospheres that most immediately makes an impression upon listening to the 16 tracks collected here, and compared to much of his other stripped-back Chicago footwork brethren, there’s a far more dreamlike and hypnotic aesthetic frequently at play here.
‘Pop The Trunk’ provides a good example of the aforementioned traits, as cut-up stuttering MC vocals and curiously skanking horn stabs slide against an eerily chilled backdrop of lush, phased synth pads and rapid-fire 808 snares, while ‘Go Hard’ sees what sounds like a female raver vocal sample being phase-shifted into a dizzying wall of colourful textures against brittle, jerky snare rolls and what sounds like a whirling string sample. If the resulting effect is one that lends itself as equally to a big soundsystem as it does after hours headphone listening, more visceral offerings such as the darkly-titled ‘Torture Rack’ see Griffin bringing the buzzing sub-bass and synth-brass stabs to the forefront alongside muscular, flexing drum machines and sinister cyborg yells, before ‘Rep Yo Clique’ winds things up into a tense jittery mass of hicupping snare tics, crushed handclaps and waspy g-funk synth blares, in what’s easily one of the most rough and grimy moments on offer here. Once again, Planet Mu’s ongoing explorations into footwork / juke house continue to yield plenty of intriguing rewards.
Chris Downton
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