The line between Dubstep, Purple, Wonky, and today’s token dance designation du jour is growing increasingly nebulous. The title is mainly a poorly veiled excuse for me to link to this old Sunny D commercial and pose existential questions about what sort of mother would allow their children to drink “purple stuff,”why rollerblading was ever considered cool, and how Sunny D’s foul fructose swill was somehow seen as a healthy alternative. Ah, the late 80s, a time of unbridled optimism and can-do spirit.
So Hudson Mohawke–23 years old, Glasgow-raised, Primo and DITC-obsessed, born to an American DJ dad who ostensibly preferred his first-born with a brogue than as a “bro.” I only discovered Hudson a few weeks ago thanks to Mary Anne Hobbs’ Wild Angels comp, but according to reader/rapper Nick Sweepah, he headlines massive block parties in Australia when he isn’t busy producing tracks for Magr and crafting the Polyfolk Dance EP, his excellent Warp debut released earlier this spring. Last night, I watched him absolutely incinerate the Low End Theory with beats so springy and spongy that the dance floor felt like a diving board.
His first official full-length, Butter, is slated to drop next month on Warp, with the first leak, “Rising 5,” a dazzling post-Dilla slice of polychromatic electro-soul that sounds like an amalgam of Flying Lotus with more serotonin, Javelin, and the boogie classics channeled by Dam-Funk. With sounds sunnier than most of the lamp-less dirges that pass for dance music these days, Hudson Mohawke is certainly more promising than both rollerblading, purple stuff, and the Bruce Willis bomb he swiped his name from.
Download:
MP3: Hudson Mohawke-“Rising 5”
MP3: Hudson Mohawke-“Polkadot Blues”
