In hindsight, a small Parisian label pressing tunes from DJ Tameil, James Nasty, DJ Rashad and Traxman to vinyl in the late 2000s doesn’t come across as an especially brave or counterintuitive move, but in reality, few, if any, tastemakers were talking about or buying Bmore, Jersey club or footwork at the time. With dozens of international labels (still too few) releasing the sounds of Baltimore, Newark and Chicago now, it’s easy to look back with rose tinted glasses and assume that this was always the case, ignoring the fact that few people cared about, or even knew who the aforementioned titans of Jersey club and footwork were back in the late aughts. Founded by Big Dope P in 2007, Moveltraxx was one of the first international labels to push the sounds of Jersey club and footwork, along with other visceral house-oriented sounds from Chicago (Todd Terry, Waxmaster), and introduced many fans, 18 year old myself included, to a sound that has become hugely important to contemporary dance music at large.
As a curator, Big Dope P’s legacy is unassailable, ranging from the banging Da Movelt Posse compilation series to his work with fellow Frenchmen Canblaster and Feadz, simultaneously pushing a genre bending sound on his own productions and introducing the Continent to American club music. And with a few exceptions, Big Dope P has released all of his original music on Moveltraxx, drawing together various nodes on the rap map, footwork, ghetto house, Bmore, Jersey and Philly, spastic funk and a multitude of other genres into his own kinetic productions. His latest release, the Hit Da Blokk EP, is one of his few excursions beyond the confines of Moveltraxx and comes on Nightwave‘s Heka Trax label. Comprised of three originals (one a collaboration with Feadz) and remixes from Rustie, Ikonika, DJ Earl and DJ Tim Dolla (vinyl exclusive), the EP trespasses across traditional dance music structure, filtering the maximalist spirit of Glass Swords into a stripped down, footwork-inspired framework. It’s huge, over-the-top club music and Big Dope P executes it perfectly, showing off a keen understanding of his source material as well as the will to go above and beyond his influences.
To celebrate the release of the white vinyl edition of Hit Da Blokk, Big Dope P is bringing out a number of friends, Feadz, Nightwave, Joseph Marinetti, Dudley Slang and Maribor, for a party in London. Going down at Birthdays in Dalston on August 7, the Moveltraxx don’s set will likely sound something like his entry to our mix series, part workout club trax, part throw your hands in the air rap fun and part clattering, factory rhythms. It’s fun as hell to run to and I can’t imagine tracks like “Ibogance” and “Hit Da Blokk” won’t sound good on the Birthdays system. Along with the mix, Big Dope P has gifted us two pairs of tickets to the release party, a can’t miss opportunity for our London readers to catch a real club music innovator with a cadre of friends and likeminded artists. Find more info on the party here and enter to win a pair of tickets after the jump. You can also find the (packed) track list after the jump and be sure to tune in to Big Dope P’s regular slot on Radar Radio.
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