Turquoise vinyl, limited to 300 copies.
Established! is the new album from RP Boo, his fourth full-length for Planet Mu. In 2013, Mu released his debut Legacy – an acclaimed album that put RP on the international music map, acknowledging his unique role in the creation of the Chicago-developed art form known as Footwork. It’s been said that RP Boo is to Footwork what Juan Atkins is to Techno. The start. The Soul. RP Boo deliberately labelled his new album Established! because that’s simply what he is. He’s thankful for being bestowed with a unique talent that has not diminished and continues to excite Footworkers both locally in Chicago and around the globe. Footwork remains a Chicago-centred art form, under-recognized at home, yet loved worldwide and RP remains its grounding point, with his productions being the place the entire scene goes to. On Established! RP looks back to that time when he was inventing Footwork, going out listening to disco and linking with the creators of house such as Paul Johnson. For tracks like ‘Another Night To Party’ or ‘Finally Here (ft. Afiya)’ he takes himself back in time to when he started DJing, playing ghetto house and being inspired by jack tracks. These moments were the foundation point to create his own style, elevating his sound into new territories for the future.
With Established! RP wanted to return what he soaked up over his journey and remind people of the layers of connections between various Chicago dance musics. Another side of Established! is the ’battle track’ mentality. The battle dance circle of course comes from Hip-Hop and also earlier forms of American Black Music. Tracks like ‘Haters Increase The Heat!’ reflect this competitive aspect of Footwork.Deluxe LP edition pressed on Turquoise Vinyl and packaged in a 350g Gatefold Sleeve. One time pressing limited to 300 copies. There's an ordeal that underpins Low Life's 'Dogging,' and looking back at it, perhaps this was inevitable given the album's exceptionally derogatory attitude to its own scattered sense of time and debris. It's an attitude that's been hosed down in bore water-stained stupor, with all the anguished but forgivable hope and charm of plain packaged cigarettes. 'Dogging' crawled into the world desperately and painfully. Originally slated for release on Brisbane's singular Negative Guest List Records in 2012, the label's owner sadly passed away before it got there. It eventually emerged two years later as a split between two labels from the band's home turf of Sydney, Disinfect Records and R.I.P. Society. It's fitting that the latter had reissued Venom P. Stinger's Dugald McKenzie-era material the year prior—arguably the only other Australian band that compares to the tough, shit-kicking intensity found on 'Dogging.' Comprised of Mitch Tolman, Cristian O'Sullivan, and Greg Alfaro at this point (the current 2017 line-up includes Dizzy from Oily Boys), the reckless ferocity and defeatist's humour is pointedly nihilistic. It's not kitsch nihilism either, it's the kind that enlivens. Indexing happiness, fear, lust, grief, and sorrow, the wry indulgences outlined in Tolman's coded and scheming lyrics amount to white-knuckle sincerity. It's disarming, but it's blunted by a weighty smirk. If all this weren't delivered through a sardonic curled lip, the violence at the edge of it all would perhaps come off a little less real. There's a bitterly angry confrontation with the contemporary Australian psyche once you enter Low Life's estate. Thugged out and at pace, there's a genuine rush to 'Dogging.' The mindless logic of 'harder and faster' could never get you to where they were at this point. Even at the marginally calmer moments the guitars glance you like a headache revealing just how bad it is. There's no respite, but on the the whole it's a very functional arrangement between the three of them. Each song is belted out with a short, sharp fit, with some synthesisers occasionally glistening out at the edges. The restraint is all the more fierce as it amplifies everything that's fucked about them. Low Life pull you through it all on all their terms, and that impact feels as untimely and excessive now as it did then.
