Far from the soothing bubble-bath of deep house which currently has the UK in thrall, juke house is abrasive, stuttering and full of reverberating space. This is dance music at its most Spartan level- sparsely syncopated drums, eerily pitch-shifted vocal samples and crackling distortion. Juke is house music at its most kinetic and impossibly percussive- there is space in the music, but no room to breathe.
In fact, it is difficult to separate the music from the footwork dance style which accompanies it everywhere in Chicago. Check out this compilation from Ghetto Teknitianz, giants in the Chi scene. The bassline is as choppy as the jerky footwork of the dancers, and the tense atmosphere of the dance battles reverberates in the constant reloading of the vocal samples.
Dance music is repetition, but the repetition in juke is all slightly out of kilter. The samples come back in a fraction of a second too soon, and the drums jerk back every couple of seconds without completing full loops. The listener is constantly wrong-footed, forever trying to keep up with the tense reverberations of the 808s. This is what unheimlich sounds likeat 160bpm.
Juke has been gestating in the projects of the Windy City for over 15 years: it is only since the release of the seminal Bangs & Works compilations on Planet Mu and recent big-name drops on Hyperdub that the rest of the West has caught on. These tracks scratch the surface.
RP Boo- 11 – 47 – 99
If any one man invented footwork, it was RP Boo. This cut is also known as The Gozilla Track, Heavy Heat and Another RP Track, but the numerical title is the original. The Godzilla Track is perhaps the most appropriate moniker- the production here is monstrous, slamming the mad horn line back across the mix rather than simply reloading it, as RP pushes his battered drum machine to the absolute limit. 11-47-99 is a call to arms and a call to the dancefloor.
DJ Solo- What Have You Done?
The sample here is stretched to breaking point in every direction. Already mournful, Solo drags it from melancholy to demonic. It is constantly on the point of collapsing into a drone and at time cuts out altogether as a solitary snare crashes in the silence. The sample and the drum line are so far apart they scarcely seem connected, only occasionally coming into contact as they roam through the track. Archetypal minimal juke.
DJ Roc- One Blood
In Douglas Adams’ Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, he suggests that counting within earshot of a sentient robot is the equivalent of sidling up to someone and murmuring “Blood. Blood. Blood.” It seems unlikely this is DJ Roc’s point of reference. However, the harrowing sample from Junior Reed’s conscious reggae track of the same name is just as unnerving as Adams imagines. Far below, the drum machine bursts like gunfire. One Blood is about as heavy as juke gets.
Boylan- High Lite (Sinjin Hawke Remix)
Not pure Chicago house, but an indication of where the juke style might head next as it continues to intersect with European trend. The staccato drums are still there, but intersecting with a more melodic house template absent from the Chi scene. Vocal samples are not jerked across the track, but abruptly fade into the mix. Other producers whose music is some way along the evolutionary path from RP Boo’s footwork originals include Om Unit, Ital Tek, Addison Groove and Machinedrum.
DJ Rashad- Ghost
The most structurally complex track listed here, Ghost even boasts fragmentary bursts of piano amidst the stuttering samples. At times, it even achieves a fragile beauty, as the fragile female voice seems to escape the endless recursions of the 808. By the end of the track, though, the piano and the glimmering female sample are survived by the juddering male voice endlessly repeating “Ghost. Ghost. Ghost.” It is as if putting a name to the beautiful spectres which hover around the bassline means they cease to exist.
Also worth checking out are:
Young Smoke- Let Go, Jlin- Erotic Heat, DJ Clent- DJ Clent #1, DJ CLent- Third Wurle, Ital Tek- Gonga, Addison Groove- Footcrab, Adam F- Circles (Phillip K Dick edit).
