DJ Taye – Still Trippin’

Teklife prodigy chafes at the boundaries of footwork...

Less a straight footwork album, DJ Taye’s third album – and his first for Kode9’s Hyperdub – sits at a frenetic intersection between the Chicago-born genre, jungle, breakcore and rap. This fits with the 23-year- old’s ambitions to take the sound beyond its founding framework, to push at its boundaries and ultimately – with the energy of his youth – figure out what’s possible.

The album’s first half sees Taye relish the experimental nature that first drew him to the scene, and to its defining Teklife cohort. When it works, it’s weird – but it definitely works. Co-produced with fellow Teklife member DJ Manny, ‘Need It’ blends junglist breaks with familiar fast-chopped vocals and an outrageous acid bassline.

The young producer’s hip-hop origins shine through too, leaving space for full-formed verses on ‘Trippin’ and the slow building ‘Get It Jukin’.

The latter half of the record serves a more straightforward (if such a thing is possible) footwork rinse-out. And it sings. ‘Pop Drop’, assisted by DJ Paypal, is a scene standout in the making; ‘Gimme Some Mo’ with Uniiqu3 is a textbook run of skittering hi-hats, a bouncing 808 bassline, and nattering vocals. It’s not all exemplary, though: ‘Truu’, also featuring Paypal, is a real clanger.

7/10

Words: Will Pritchard

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