[photo by Dave Quam]
I Only Know (What I Know Now) – James Blake
In the waiting room of heaven’s dentist office they play James Blake’s “I Only Know (What I Know Now)” and nobody feels any pain ever again. On the other hand, DJ Nate is what the angelic kids doing nitrous hear, up there.
And then there’s us. We’re stuck in this real-seeming world, sometimes a terrifying place to be if your heart is open, and this is music for competitive dancing, which equals graces times speed multiplied by gravity and the fight against it. Gravity’s a stubborn law. Hard to break. And yet these samples detach, float upward, unhinge themselves from the beat as the angelic kids fool around with anesthetics, way down there. Songs as spells for moving feet, bodies — that focus of purpose, its functionality, is what lets footwork (the music, the dance, why separate them?) get so weird. In Chicago!
Dave Quam is up to his eyeballs in this.
[audio:DJ_Nate-My_Heart.mp3]& a Lil Wayne refix. you can’t get on my level / you will need a space shuttle / or a ladder that’s forever
[audio:DJ_Nate-3_Peat.mp3]
“In Chicago!”
I’m having difficulty discerning whether that is an expression of surprise/disbelief or excitement, but I love it.
funny. musically i’ve been almost exclusively obsessed with james blake & footwurk (dj nate included). i’ve a recent post up about the latter… i also really rec dj rashad’s stuff, and dj elmoe to a certain extent… a good mix of rashad & spinn’s is up somewhere.
james blake’s air & lack thereof is the best dubstep track ever made in my opinion… lazer guns and all.
Your prose, as ever, is as elusive as it is uplifting, just like this music.
🙂
Shot for spotlighting this – attached is a link to a feature I did on Roc, Nate and Rashad and some entry level info on Footwork and Juke – http://ripitup.co.nz/contentitem/feature-juke-and-footwork-from-chicago-to-the-world/1107