DJ Spinn - Off That Loud EP

Pitchfork 73

Off That Loud is billed as as the first EP for Hyperdub from DJ Spinn, but this designation obscures the footwork producer's long history in the Chicago underground electronic scene. Spinn, born Morris Harper, has been pressing energetic, beguiling footwork onto record for decades, even if only a fraction of those releases have featured his name on the title. Back in the '90s, he dropped tracks on cassette with longtime collaborator and Teklife co-founder, the late DJ Rashad. He squeezed through the closing doors of vaunted ghetto house label Dance Mania before it shuttered in the early '00s, releasing a raw, crackling track in 1998 called "Mutha Fuc*a" that Dance Mania misattributed to DJ Thadz. He also had a hand in eight of the 14 songs on Rashad's masterpiece, 2013's Double Cup, and this year alone appeared on a slew of Teklife and Rashad-related releases.

Spinn's lack of marquee status often seems due to his eagerness to work with others, but he finally takes center stage on Off That Loud. It's his first solo release since Rashad passed away in April 2014, and the EP comes during a particularly rich year for footwork. Massive opener "Throw It Back" delivers megaton drops between scorching acid synths and sprightly, rapid-fire kicks. Footwork remains a niche concern—Planet Mu honcho Mike Paradinas recently told Dummy Magazine footwork albums sell so poorly he can only afford to drop two a year—but "Throw It Back" could chameleon its way onto a playlist of arena-sized EDM songs as easily as it could provide a soundtrack for dancers facing off at Battlegroundz on Chicago's South Side.

Spinn handles two of the EP's four tracks on his own—"The Future Is Now", with its cross-stitching rhythms, is the hardest of the four, and the title track marries rich Rhodes organ with sputtering vocal samples and twitching patterns of percussion. But the best of the bunch is a tune Spinn made with Rashad, the previously released "Dubby", which showcases the pair's penchant for experimentation while keeping footwork grounded in its idiosyncratic pulse. Spinn and Rashad marry jungle breaks to footwork's syncopated drum and bass, and then pass the mic to Danny Brown, who raps: "I don't know 'bout where you from but this is how my hood work." Brown's squawk has colored downtrodden tales about growing up in Detroit, but he sounds utterly at home on "Dubby". As Spinn adeptly blends foreign sounds into a distinctly Chicago genre, Off That Loud shows his ability to help footwork thrive outside its birthplace. Spinn earned his veteran bona fides years ago, but Off That Loud feels like a new beginning.