{"id":1256,"date":"2018-12-06T23:47:06","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T23:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/?p=1256"},"modified":"2018-12-06T23:47:06","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T23:47:06","slug":"heavee-wfm-work-for-me-lp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/needletothegroove.net\/index.php\/2018\/12\/06\/heavee-wfm-work-for-me-lp\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavee – WFM (Work For Me) LP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heavee \u2013 WFM (Work For Me)
\n<\/strong>Teklife Records 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On this latest release from footwork collective Teklife, producer Heavee maintains the booming, crisp rhythms the crew have made their calling card. He also manages to nudge the style\u2019s rigid musical framework in evocative new directions.<\/p>\n

For those unacquainted, footwork is a contemporary continuation of tech house and ghetto tech, themselves more frenetic and explicit offshoots of techno and house. The style can also be used somewhat interchangeably with the term juke. On first listen, the music can sound chaotic, with manically repeating sample chops and feverishly shifting drum patterns nearly always conducted with a generous helping of shattering sub bass. Though the sound, and output from the Teklife crew, is tied heavily to the city of Chicago, footwork has since been embraced by bass-hungry enclaves around the world. Its most famous exponent was DJ Rashad, whose untimely death<\/a> at 34 still elicits calls of \u201cR.I.P. Rashad\u201d by members of his crew live and on record. Heavee makes sure to pay homage on \u201cCloud Ride\u201d with lyric \u201cShout out to Rashad, \u2018cause we couldn\u2019t do it without.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opener \u201cWFM\u201d kicks things off with a giddier side to the footwork sound, a more optimistic counterpoint to the dank, drug-stained refrains of such Teklife classics as \u201cBurn that Kush<\/a>\u201d and \u201cDrank, Kush, Barz<\/a>.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Wack,\u201d a collaboration with the aforementioned Rashad dating back to 2013, enters like industrial music by comparison, metallic drums the only musical heartbeat before the continued refrain of the title.<\/p>\n

Compared to his Teklife counterparts, WFM<\/em> reveals Heavee among the most indebted to the EDM undercurrent of footwork, especially given his crafty synth work on this project. As Heavee revealed in a press release for the album, the synth focus came as a result of a renewed musical approach. \u201cUsually in my method of production, synths or sounds come somewhat close to last, likely after I find structure or rhythm,\u201d he shared. \u201cIt\u2019s not something I particularly go for first, but this time around they became the building blocks\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cCloud Ride\u201d featuring labelmate DJ Phil, is the clear anthem of the set. The chorus sets up plenty of space before the relentlessly chopped call to \u201cFuck it up\u201d signals high time for dancers to battle it out. \u201cI won\u2019t let you deny my wave,\u201d boasts Heavee on the mic, whose verse leads into a spaced-out series of synth swells that recede like a shoreline before a tsunami of musical intensity.<\/p>\n

For a style that can sometimes be known for its intensity more than its nuance, Heavee manages to layer synths in a way that proves there\u2019s still ways to exercise finesse at 160 beats per minute.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cCloud Ride\u201d by Heavee<\/strong><\/p>\n