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Music

Traxman is Tryna Tell Ya About Footwork

Tim & Barry show us how footwork's done properly and Traxman shows us why he's the ten minute man.
DJ Rashad

In the spring of 2012, legendary grime documenters Tim and Barry, founders of web channel Don't Watch That, travelled to Chicago to embed themselves in the city's thriving footwork scene.

For the uninitiated, footwork is a rhythmically seasick and choppy mutation of super speed house, popularized by the network of producers and dancers – who drop absurdly complex moves that live somewhere between tap and breakdancing – in the Windy City. Footwork dancing looks like footwork sounds: a manic mish-mash of sampled exertion. Don't take my word for it though – check out THUMP's very own Making Tracks for footage of some of the scene's finest strutting their stuff.

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For many of us, Planet Mu's Bangs and Works compilation was our first taste of footwork's freeform explosiveness, bringing the likes of RP Boo and DJ Nate to our attention. It also featured material from the two men who would go on to become ambassadors for their scene and their city: DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn.

Rashad and Spinn

The pair's Teklife crew went on to house a stream of incredibly talented producers including DJ Earl, DJ Taye and Traxman. Teklife is now largely affiliated with Steve 'Kode9' Goodman's ear-to-the-ground Hyperdub label – a perfect home for artists intent on pushing bass heavy music to its limits.

With Rashad passing away earlier this year, Tim and Barry's incredibly intimate portrait of the genre's key players takes on an elegiac note. In some ways what they've captured is something that's already over. But at the same time, they also witnessed the birth of a new chapter in footwork history.

We caught up with Tim just before the film dropped for the whole world to see.

THUMP: Who brought the footwork scene to your attention in the first place, and how did you foster the kind of relationships that are pivotal to making a film like I'm Tryna Tell Ya work?
Tim: Will Bankhead, the guy who runs The Trilogy Tapes label, passed some Rashad, Spinn and Clent tracks onto Ben Drury who played them to me, somewhere around 2009/10 and they blew my mind. I started trying to find tracks on the web and began playing them on my show on Deja Vu FM. Then in 2011 DJ Haus asked us if we wanted to have Rashad & Spinn on Just Jam and we were like 'Hell yeah'! They came and played a two hour set and we just clicked straight away. After that we stayed in contact online and their manager at the time, J Cush, suggested we take a trip to Chicago to film them.

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Favorite moment in the film?
There are lots of different bits to be honest but probably the section where Spinn, Manny and Rashad are laying down the "Lurking on the Book" vocals. It just sums up the creativity, humor and intimacy when the guys are making tracks. A big part of the Teklife crew making tracks together is about hanging out and I think you really see that in that scene.

Where does footwork go next?
Wherever the producers take it. Spinn is playing shows all over the world, Traxman and Litebulb are performing at Just Jam at the Barbican in December. Litebulb's one of our favourite dancers so we are really excited to see him footwork on such an amazing stage. There's also loads of super exciting younger producers from Chicago like Taye, Manny and Earl coming through as well as producers who aren't from Chicago like Nick Hook, Paypal, Feloneezy and Jaxkie Dagger. It's looking like a very, very bright future.

You can stream I'm Tryna Tell Ya in all its glory below. It's funny, touching, insightful – everything a full-length music documentary should be.

In addition to this, Tim and Barry have given us some bonus footage of footwork lynchpin Traxman dropping a hot track in ten minutes flat.

Check out Don't Watch That TV for more clips.

You can find Josh on twitter as well: @bain3z