First Floor #252 – The Allure of the Past
a.k.a. A curated look back at the Dance Mania catalog, plus a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh crop of new track recommendations.
Nostalgia in electronic music is nothing new, but it has been running particularly strong during the opening weeks of 2025, at least within the confines of the “discourse.” Resident Advisor made Björk the subject of its most recent cover story, and this week published an Art of Production feature with Kevin Saunderson. Former RA scribe Andrew Ryce dedicated the latest edition of his Futureproofing newsletter to Pearson Sound’s early output as Ramadanman, and DJ Mag during the past few weeks has not only published a wide-ranging look at the “unsung heroes” of ’80s and ’90s New York house, but also posted two different classic album retrospectives—one dedicated to J Dilla’s Donuts, the other to Leftfield’s Leftism. (The latter, it should be said, was penned by Ben Cardew, whose Line Noise newsletter routinely re-examines dance music history; this week’s edition includes an interview with former Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür.) The No Tags podcast last month devoted an entire episode to late ’90s and early 2000s films that they’ve dubbed “big beat cinema,” a move which in turn inspired me to write a deep dive into the big beat genre right here in First Floor, and this week I dove back into the nostalgia pool, offering up a two-part tour through the catalog of Dance Mania—a label that is literally 40 years old.
(Side note: The paywall is currently down on those Dance Mania pieces, so move fast and give them a read before it goes back up.)
What is going on here? Admittedly I’m doing a bit of cherry picking, and the beginning of the year is always a relatively slow time for both events and new releases, but it does seem that the folks tasked with talking about electronic music—myself included—are spending a whole lot of their time looking backwards. It’s tempting to say that’s because the genre’s contemporary offerings feel increasingly disposable and simply aren’t that inspiring. There’s some truth to that, yet it also can’t be overlooked that many of the most established voices in electronic music are now well into their 30s and 40s, making their connections—both practical and emotional—to the contemporary culture more tenuous with each passing year. Speaking for myself, although I still spend a lot of time listening to and engaging with new music—and genuinely liking a lot of it—I can’t pretend that it generates the same sort of visceral emotional response as the stuff I heard in my teens and twenties. Humans just aren’t wired that way.
So yes, there’s a case to be made that many of electronic music’s most prominent journalists are simply getting old, and are therefore writing about more old music, but there’s also an audience component to consider. In a shifting media landscape, many genuinely young people (i.e. the folks driving the culture) aren’t exactly flocking to long reads and other forms of traditional music journalism. (One of my absolute favorite moments on the No Tags podcast happened last year, when co-host Tom Lea tellingly said, “A certain 24-year-old artist called me a psycho recently because he saw me checking Resident Advisor on my phone.”) Although media outlets are scrambling to reformulate their editorial for zoomers who rarely leave the confines of their social media feeds—just look at the Instagram accounts of RA, DJ Mag and Mixmag to see what I’m talking about—their primary audiences (i.e. the ones who actually want to read about electronic music) are aging, which makes anything that tickles readers’ sense of nostalgia an increasingly attractive proposition.
I don’t mean to imply that writers and editors are cynically cooking up ways to stoke engagement by revisiting the past. Maybe that’s happening on some level—it’s not like publications, even informal ones, don’t take notice of what their audiences respond to. But I’d wager that much of what’s going on is the result of a natural drift into middle age, one exacerbated by both a lack of younger voices in the culture—you can blame the disappearance of music journalism as a viable career option for that one—and a contemporary electronic music landscape which often does feel a bit superficial. Add in the growing sense of collective existential dread, which (for completely understandable reasons) seems to have gone into overdrive during the past few years, and it’s no wonder that people are finding some solace in scenes and sounds that emerged back when the world felt a little less insane.
All that said, as much First Floor loves the occasional journey into the past, I refuse to give up on the present. That’s what the Thursday digest is all about—highlighting all of the most interesting new electronic music tidbits from the past week. Today’s edition includes news items, new release announcements, suggested reading links and a big batch of new track recommendations, which I hope will help to quell any worries you might have about the health of the genre. And if my word alone isn’t enough to calm your nerves, there’s also a special guest recommendation from Pavel Milyakov (a.k.a. buttechno).
Let’s get started.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Every Tuesday, First Floor publishes a long-form piece that’s initially made available to paid subscribers only. But if you’re not part of the paid tier, now’s your chance to see what you missed! The latest piece is now (temporarily) open to everyone, and it’s a retrospective, two-part look back at Dance Mania, one that provides some thoughts on the famed Chicago house label’s legacy, but mostly highlights some of my favorite tunes from the imprint’s massive catalog.
FIRST FLOOR LIVE WITH ELIJAH
As announced last week, First Floor is launching a new series of live events, and the first one is happening in Barcelona on Friday, February 28 at Casa Montjuic. I’ll be joined that night by UK artist, writer and thinker Elijah (a.k.a. the man behind the Yellow Squares project), who will be presenting the latest version of his “Close the App, Make the Ting” lecture before we sit down to dissect the current state of the culture and the music industry. And yes, we’ll also be talking about his new book.
Tickets are available here. Capacity is limited, and tickets are moving quickly, so make sure to grab one now before they’re gone.
REAL QUICK
A round-up of the most interesting electronic music news from the past week, plus links to interviews, articles and other things I think are worth sharing.
Terror Danjah has passed away. The news broke earlier this week, and though the UK grime producer—who suffered a stroke several years back—had been in poor health for quite some time, his death nonetheless hit hard, particularly within the sphere of UK bass music. Though his first grime productions date back to the early 2000s, it was Terror Danjah’s albums on Hyperdub and Planet Mu during the late 2000s and early 2010s that played a major role in pushing the music beyond its home turf and helped to legitimize the genre within broader electronic music circles. He also went on to create a prominent grime offshoot, R&G, which explored the genre’s softer side by folding in elements of R&B. While he was healthy, Terror Danjah never stopped experimenting, though his signature producer tag—which humorously sounded like some sort of gremlin—remained a constant throughout. Multiple tributes to the man have surfaced online over the past few days, including a heartfelt remembrance from Hyperdub boss Kode9, and yesterday The Guardian published an article by Joe Muggs that recounted the both key details of Terror Danjah’s career and the lasting impact of his music.
Some dance music debates never die, and while they usually tend to play out within the tiresome confines of social media, a compelling new feature by Henry Ivry takes a nuanced look at the issue of track IDs. Published by DJ Mag, the piece questions whether DJs are ever justified in keeping their tracklists secret, examining how perspectives on the matter have evolved over time, and the outsized role that technology, social media and online culture now play in shaping the parameters of the debate.
More than 20 years into their career, HTRK are arguably bigger and more relevant than ever, and with the Australian band having just reissued their 2009 debut album, Marry Me Tonight, they sat down with The Quietus’ Luke Turner to take a trip down memory lane. The resulting feature finds the duo reflecting on past releases and various phases of their existence, putting a particular emphasis on the years they spent living in London.
OBLIGATORY BOOK MENTION
My first book is out now. It’s called First Floor Vol. 1: Reflections on Electronic Music Culture, and you can order it from my publisher Velocity Press. However, if you’re outside of the UK, I recommend that you either inquire at your favorite local bookshop or try one of the online sales links that have been compiled here.
JUST ANNOUNCED
A round-up of noteworthy new and upcoming releases announced during the past week.
Tim Reaper—who was interviewed by First Floor last year—has teamed up with fellow UK junglist and Western Lore label founder Dead Man’s Chest on a new joint EP. Entitled LOREFR001, it’s out now via Reaper’s Future Retro London imprint.
Speaking of junglists, Sully has long been one of the genre’s brightest talents, and he’s linked up with FABRICLIVE. on the label’s first-ever original artist release. Model Collapse is the name of the record, and though it’s slated to drop on March 14, the title track is available now.
Jordan GCZ is best known for the house grooves he made as part of projects like Juju & Jordash and Magic Mountain High, but he’s taken a turn toward ambient on an upcoming release for the quiet details label. Announced yesterday, it’s called Hope Isn’t a Four Letter Word, and though no music from it has been shared, listeners won’t need to wait long to hear it, as the record is scheduled to arrive on February 19.
Having reunited last year for a performance at MUTEK Montreal, Factory Floor this week released their first new material since 2018. A standalone single entitled “Between You,” it’s available now via the Phantasy Sound label.
Following up on his 2023 album Bolted, Forest Swords this week unveiled plans to release Bolted (Deconstructed), an alternate version of the LP that’s said to contain “ambient, improvised reinterpretations” of the source material. Ninja Tune will be issuing the record on March 7, but in the meantime, the song “Line Gone Cold (Deconstructed)” has already been shared.
PAVEL MILYAKOV HAS BETTER TASTE THAN I DO
First Floor is effectively a one-person operation, but every edition of the Thursday digest cedes a small portion of the spotlight to an artist, writer or other figure from the music world, inviting them to recommend a piece of music. Today’s recommendation comes from Pavel Milyakov, a Berlin-based artist who also operates under the name buttechno. It was that alias that first gained traction on techno’s outer fringe during the latter half of the 2010s, but Milyakov has significantly expanded his sound palette over the years, dipping into ambient, dub, trance and a myriad of experimental sounds, both solo and in collaboration with artists like Bendik Giske, Richie Culver, Alex Zhang Hungtai and Yana Pavlova. On his most recent offering, the meditative and new age-influenced HEAL, he teamed up with visual artist Lucas Dupuy. That record is available now on Milyakov’s own PSY X imprint, and while more releases will surely come soon—he’s nothing if not prolific—he took a few moments here to share a track that he’s had on repeat in recent weeks.
Chrystabell & David Lynch “You Know the Rest” (Sacred Bones)
I’m listening to a lot of Lynch-related music these days. This one is from Cellophane Memories, his latest collaborative album with Chrystabell—which I also think is the best one they did. Very minimalistic and quite experimental, “You Know the Rest” reminds me of the loopy structures from Kim Gordon’s Body/Head project, while the subtle vocals recall artists like Jonnine and Yana Pavlova. Great work.
LISTEN UP
The following is a selection of my favorite tunes from releases that came out during the past week or so. Click the track titles to hear each song individually, or you can also just head over to this convenient Buy Music Club list if you prefer to listen to them all in one place.
Fennesz “The Last Days of May” (Longform Editions)
Tujiko Noriko “Echoes on the Hem” (Longform Editions)
With Longform Editions set to officially close up shop, the label could have put just about anything in its final batch of releases, but rather than coasting on its reputation, the Australian outpost has elected to go out on a real high note. With all due respect to the pastoral wanderings of Natalia Beylis’ “Coy-Koi” and the exploratory twang of whait’s “Close Quarters,” which both have their genuine charms, the compositions from Fennesz and Tujiko Noriko rank among some of the best material Longform Editions has ever released. The former opens “The Last Days of May” with little more than spacious, reverb-drenched guitars, offering a kind of slow-motion shoegaze that gradually builds into an imposing wall of static—and then dissolves, leaving behind tendrils of patiently warbling drone. Noriko, on the other hand, follows a much cleaner path on “Echoes of the Hem,” on which her ghostly tones, trembles and vocalizations coalesce into a soothing—and pleasantly odd—strain of ambient.
Eduardo Polonio “Valverde” (Buh)
Most fans of electroacoustic music are likely familiar with names like John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Steve Reich, Alvin Lucier and maybe even Iannis Xenakis. But what about Eduardo Polonio? The Spanish artist spent decades experimenting and pushing the limits of sound, and thanks to a new retrospective collection by the Lima-based Buh imprint, Obra electroacústica 1969-1981, Polonio—who passed away late last year at the age of 83—may finally receive some more widespread appreciation. The tripped-out “Valverde,” which was recorded in 1981, is one of the record’s many highlights, and it charts a deceptively woozy course, the meditative bliss of its guitar loops—many of which are based on flamenco riffs—slowly building into a full-blown psychedelic freakout.
Yagya “Vor 4” (Small Plastic Animals)
Dub techno is supposedly having a moment right now, yet almost all of the excitement seems to be focused on artists who only started dabbling in the genre during the past few years. That’s too bad, because someone like Yagya—who’s been making dub techno for more than 20 years—doesn’t get much shine, despite the fact that he’s still active and making high-quality music. The Icelandic producer’s new Vor album is billed as a return to the “purely electronic” sounds of earliest work, and the record is rife with billowing textures and pillow-soft pads. LP standout “Vor 4”—a song that most definitely shares some DNA with the dreamier end of Y2K-era prog—pushes even deeper into the clouds, with Yagya’s gently tumbling rhythms serenely floating through the air, seemingly unencumbered by gravity.
Teleself “enigmadub” (appendix.files)
Teleself “cartilage” (appendix.files)
Although the word “dub” is technically included in the title of “enigmadub”—the opening number on Teleself’s excellent new Eternal Game EP—the song itself is far more indebted to trip-hop, and the Mo’ Wax catalog in particular. The Berlin-based producer’s vaporous sludge and moody boom-bap land the track somewhere between a David Lynch soundtrack and an old UNKLE record, though he’s also got other tricks up his sleeve. “cartilage” brings a little bit of IDM into the mix, its glittering chimes providing the song’s heads-down beats with a welcome injection of sparkle.
HEDO HYDR8 “JUST LIKE THAT” (angels)
Part grime, part trance, part Jersey club and part pastel pop, “JUST LIKE THAT” is the enticing title track of HEDO HYRD8’s latest EP. With its fluttering, anime-ready synths and sneaky low-end boom, the song at times sounds like a dispatch from some sort of space-age aerobics class, its dreamily detached vocals filling the role of the AI instructor. (And for those who prefer a version without said vocals, the EP also includes the wordless “NOT LIKE THAT,” which serves up a similar sense of euphoria, albeit without the uncanny allure that”JUST LIKE THAT” provides.)
Bruce “The Price” (Poorly Knit)
Following his extended foray into vocal-driven electronic pop, The Price / Mimicry is supposed to be Bruce’s official return to dancefloor-oriented sounds. Listening to the record, however, one has to wonder exactly what dancefloor the Bristol-based producer had in mind, as he’s dropped a pair of wildly eccentric tunes. The shambling rhythm of “The Price” recalls any number of quirky ’80s pop tunes—Hall & Oates’ “Maneater” definitely comes to mind—but Bruce doesn’t stop there, folding in warped vocal clips and blaring sound effects as the song’s sound palette steadily corrodes over the course of four and a half minutes. Simply put, “The Price” is a rather weird piece of music, but during a time when dance music is routinely plagued by unimaginative copycats and an almost slavish devotion to frictionless functionality, a track like this is awfully fun—and borderline revolutionary.
Sabola “First Step to Peace” (Garmo)
A mainstay of the Montreal scene, Adam Hodgins has lived many different artistic lives during the past decade-plus, achieving the most notoriety for his work as one half of the group Solitary Dancer. Yet he’s never stopped working solo, and in 2024 he revived an old alias, Sabola, in an effort to reconnect with some of the jungle and drum & bass sounds that drew him into the electronic music realm in the first place. Having already teamed up with Priori on last year’s “Learn to Fly,” he dropped a couple of Sabola tunes on Tim Reaper’s Future Retro London label in December, and now he’s offered up Útilykt, an EP proper that does bear traces of jungle, but is often at its best when it moves beyond the genre’s usual boundaries. With its low-key rhythms and sparkly chords, the standout “First Step to Peace” might even be classified as a piece of breakbeat prog (in a good way), although Hodgins smartly hasn’t left the jungle contingent high and dry. Anyone in need of a good throttling can skip straight to Tim Reaper’s remix of the song, which most definitely brings the ruckus.
F L V X X X “Timeless” (Reveries)
One of the best things about dance music is that no matter how many brain-scrambling, speaker-rattling tunes someone has heard over the years, a high-quality bassline can almost certainly still get their heart racing. One such bassline is at the heart of F L V X X X’s invigorating “Timeless,” an obvious highlight of Manière Dub, the duo’s new joint EP with fellow Italian Her Nice Too. Described as a “tribute to contemporary UK techno,” the track does bounce along a relatively standard-issue four-on-the-floor rhythm. Still, the bassline—which sounds like some sort of menacing death ray from outer space—is the main attraction, and it owes a debt to grime, dubstep and, frankly, multiple other points on the hardcore continuum as well.
Ryan James Ford “Räfflade” (Blue Hour)
I’m running out of ways to praise Ryan James Ford, as the Berlin-based Canadian seems to be incapable of dropping a bad record. That said, while his previous releases have essentially all resided within the realm of techno, Ford’s new Tungsten Portals mini-album—which also happens to be his debut on the Blue Hour label—at times veers awfully close to trance territory, most notably on “Räfflade.” The record’s official promo blurb avoids the dreaded t-word, instead touting its creator’s “signature blend of techno, ambient and breaks,” but make no mistake, there’s some trance here. Thankfully it’s the good kind, and “Räfflade,” with its pulsing kicks and shimmering, quasi-Balearic keys sounds just as great now as it would have in a Paul van Dyk set back in 1998.
That brings us to the end of today’s First Floor digest. Thank you so much for reading the newsletter, and, as always, I do hope that you enjoyed the tunes. (Don’t forget, you can find them all on this handy Buy Music Club list, and if you like them, please buy them.)
Until next time,
Shawn
Shawn Reynaldo is a freelance writer, editor, presenter and project manager. Find him on LinkedIn and Instagram—and make sure to follow First Floor on Instagram as well—or you can just drop Shawn an email to get in touch about projects, collaborations or potential work opportunities.