DIFFUSION MIX #1 ~ CHITS

Recently we asked our brother chits to hit us up with a mix. He did, and the delectable fruits of his labour have materialized in a refreshing jolt of dark, washed out juke joints. As a producer, chits represents one of the most interesting and essential movements in modern music, for our liking. Along with the likes of Lil Jabba, Howse, and slava et al, chits engages in the hazy landscape of second generation footwork producers. Unlike the Chicago originators, these fellows have taken the genre off the dancefloor and into the mind – exploring juke’s capabilities within the context of a plethora of other genres. Chits’ selections are a perfect example of this. The mix features everything from Burial to Madlib, with chits’ own new and old productions, as well as the likes of slava and Sully, generously peppered throughout. And what is great about this mix is the maintenance of a very distinct vibe. It is heavy, perfect for late night driving, but also sporadic and jolty; it resides, as an entity, in the stratosphere, yet there is something essentially human about it.



We hope you enjoy, because we certainly have! We also asked the man to do a short interview with us, so here it is, with chits revealing some information about himself, his process, and his intent:

First up, there is barely anything online about you, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, how old you are and what you do?

Ye I'm Zach from Pennsylvania. I've lived a bit in Los Angeles, and rather like it there. Currently I'm 20 years old, hoping to reach 21 sometime this year, and I honestly don't do much...but sometimes I make pizza and music.

How did you get into making music and how did juke music start influencing your beats? Did you start out juke or did your sound evolve from something/somewhere else?

I got into making music through the interwebs u dig? E-homies showin me the basics of making beats on a computer, and then just always expanding on my productions. So eventually I ended up making real fast shit, like juke. I never really intended to do the whole footwork thing, it's just kind of how I would make a beat at those kinds of tempos.

We have been frothing over the abundant experimental juke that has been cropping up all over the world. How do you see yourself fit into the movement from Chicago?

Haha, I really don't have an answer to that question. I'm not too good at looking at the bigger picture or whatever, but I can say that I'd be surprised if I make any mark on the movement. I can't see myself ever sticking to one style long enough honestly, but hopefully that will change.

It seems that juke music, both the ghettotekz and the 2nd wave of artist happen primarily on soundcloud and twitter. How do you think both of these fickle social media affect the scene?

I dunno, they can't hurt really. It's easy as ever to find some new new floating around. If it were up to me though, juke should only be on myspace. It just seems real myspace-y.

Footwork, as a genre is traditionally geared for the battleground. Do you make tunes with footwork (the dance) in mind or are you after a more cerebral experience?

Nah I'm never thinking about the dance while making tunes...I'm really not thinking about much at all. I'm more about just trying things and seeing where I end up. So ya I'd say certainly more cerebral. I would hope people can just feel it, and if dancing is a side effect of that, then that's what's up.

Ssaliva - Yet Another Vase

New Ssaliva tune shows a heavy weed hazed swagger to the Belgian producer's style. With its blistering synth flares and lazy guitar twangs the tune is an immersive swimming jam that serves as the perfect backdrop to any heavy, preferably camfire-adjacent AM sesh after a loose night.

Dj Chap - Hungry. Happy. Sleepy. EP Previews

Yep, lamentably some more previews, this time from Dj Chap a footworker from Montebello. His forthcoming Ep displays a surprising amount of depth and exoticism in his bangs. 'Loser's Finals' suggest a washed out and ambiguously ancient sounding landscape filled with tribalistic rhythms and nomadic instrumental tones.



'WutUNeed' sounds like its powered by steam with pistons pulsing to the tom hits. The vocals were easily ripped from any garden variety house anthem but pulled into a kind of murky refrained focus. An eerie production for sure but one thats just as workable.

Don't forget to check out 'Lift Me Up' a '92 era hardcore banger of the same EP.

Big Synths - New Appropriations

We, here at Diffusion, are suckers for that big synth sound - it is what, after all, got us into electronic music (through James Blake). The glisten, the shimmer, the full warmth in your heart, a tingle down your spine. This sound has been relatively quiet of late, but here are a few producers, from both the UK and the US, who are finding interesting and progressive ways to include it in their music. Dark Sky - Black Rainbows EP In the wake of dubstep, UK music seemed to stem in two directions. One, the hard, dancefloor-centric sounds of "UK Bass", probably best represented best by Ramadanman and his cohort on Hessle Audio. Two, the "post-dubstep" sounds of James Blake, Mount Kimbie and Disclosure, which has slowly disappeared up its own arse thanks to the likes of Blake's album and Bondax.

Bark Sky - Black Rainbows EP
Dark Sky have achieved the perfect synthesis of these two sounds, as, maybe, Joy O did beforehand. The group maintain the tuff, mean sounds of the first branch, while adding, yes, that big synth sound of the second. This is exemplified by 'F Technology', a thunderous dancefloor murderer that features brutal subs, an incessant Bass rhythm and a set of sepic, warbling synths. I can only imagine the destruction caused by this on a system. 'Totem' features drums that could have been lifted from a Ram tune and an earworm synth breakdown that just keeps building and building, with hats, strings and modulations slowly added. 'Totem' is a real demonstrations of Dark Sky's subtle finesse in production - it is beautifully produced and sounds impeccably clean. 'Zoom' sees a return to the UK Bass sound, with a skittering garage swing and an ever-expanding synth sound. One day Diffusion will buy a spaceship and turn it into a club - these are the kinds of beats we'll be playing.

Mess Kid - Slip Slow (Mohegan Son Legboot)
Mohegan Son approaches the big synth from a different angle. In the context of a US sound, he places it on top of jukey, trapy rhythms - all big bass drops that bang and work and short, repetitive vocal samples. The hi-end, however, leans more towards post-dub, it is lush, melodious and a pleasure to listen to. Altogether Mohegan Son has created a magically chilled-out summer's day in song form.

New Sine Field Releases

Neuport, back from his Chorizo EP in Jan, is sounding colder and more on point than ever. The quantized, juke-tinged, blunted Minneapolisness of his sound is sure to come to light on his new EP.

  GET HIGH - FORTHCOMING - PREVIEW by Triple Six Sound Club
 Triple Six Sound cloud has also thrown in a couple of criminally unsatisfying one minute previews for an unspecified forthcoming release. 'Get High' while filling Sine Field's minimum weed reference quota, fills your ears with hissing plumes of nitrogen gas and is weighed down with its sinister club riffs.

The Sine Field label has got to be one of the most interesting and left of field takes on the otherwise annoyingly engrained templates of the dub, tech and house worlds while also holding a mirror to the increasingly temperamental catalyst of the internet. As such, we will be eagerly awaiting their every move.

Lone - Crystal Caverns 1991 / Vulcan Acid Mill

Usually Lone is a straight baller, so anytime a new release of his drops your boys over at Diffusion get wet. After 'Cloud 909', 'Approaching Rainbow' and 'All Those Weird Things', this single is no disappointment. 'Crystal Caverns 1991' is a trademark Lone banger, with outerspace synths and a stomping beat it is a welcome addition to the tunes I mentioned before, the producer maintaining that wildly euphoric, eyes-glazed-over, peaking vibe - painted in technicolour vividness through a star-gazing lens. The B is just as munted, with Lone taking an excursion into acid, an idea that makes so much sense it's silly. And he pulls it off wonderfully, with a syrupy squelch, jerky, syncopated snares and a steel-drum synth line that takes you straight to the Caribbean. Hearing this was like getting a letter from an old friend and remembering just how great they are.

Korallreven - Sa Sa Samoa (Elite Gymnastics Remix)

わめく▷ ⎛VISUAL⎠ from ELITE GYMNASTICS on Vimeo.

Elite Gymnastics deliver a very classy hardcore throwback that pushes all the right buttons while adding something fresh. Rolling breaks and jabbing pianos recall all the glory of a pill-frenzied rave utopia, in that ecstatic, ultra-nostalgic (hence melancholic) way that only hardcore can do. The gymnasts flip on the second half of the tune - an intense wave of Whitehouse-y noise washes over the ecstasy, stirring up the dark undertones of rave culture. The happy and the sad are presented here in their complex dichotomy, both piled into a wonderful 4 minutes of music. Watch out for the resurgence of hardcore this year, after all, it has been exactly 20 years since 92!