First Floor #257 – The Messenger Matters
RA's unconvincing call for change, a look at the unexpected resurgence of bands, plus a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh batch of new track recommendations.
You know the vibes in dance music are bad when Resident Advisor starts openly lamenting the current state of the culture.
Funnily enough, it was less than four months ago that the genre’s leading publication kicked off its Best of 2024 by proudly touting the publication’s “pivot to positivity,” naysaying those who’d taken issue with the direction the music and nightlife had taken:
It's worth mulling what exactly music stands to gain out of more takes spun from the detachment of a desk chair, rather than writers putting their talents to better use. When your brand is staked on yelling at clouds, there's a vested interest in sustaining the gloom, but at what point do the histrionics start to feel a little trite?
Apparently RA has decided that those “histrionics” have some value after all, as yesterday the site published an opinion column by Ed Gillett, who openly acknowledges the “ongoing stagnation” of the culture. Long one of the genre’s more thoughtful writers—his 2023 book Party Lines provided a deeply researched political history of UK dance music—Gillett provides a thorough accounting of how things of gone awry, and points toward the growing economic precarity being felt by artists, venues, labels and pretty much anyone who isn’t comfortably ensconced in the industry’s top tier.
The piece isn’t all doom and gloom—Gillett spends much of the article advocating for “a fundamental change in mindset” and the development of “strategies worthy of genuine, lasting optimism.” Yet his calls for change are vague, and intentionally so, as he writes, “being overly didactic about specific solutions isn't likely to be helpful.” He’s not wrong about that, but when he speaks of the “need to accept that things cannot go on as they are, and that collective action—whatever that looks like—is urgently needed,” his examples of where that’s happening are relatively scarce. More importantly, they’re far more limited in scope than his soul-crushing citations of where the scene has gone wrong (e.g. the failure of Aslice, the overly economic orientation of existing organizing efforts, the staggering losses incurred by independent promoters). In the face of what he describes as “one of the greatest transfers of resources from the working classes to the hyper-wealthy since the invention of capitalism,” even imagining significant change is difficult, though he’s absolutely correct to say that “online posturing and half-measures simply won't cut it any more.”
What does it say, however, that this message was delivered via Resident Advisor, a platform that has actively built online posturing and half-measures into its business model? Are readers supposed to credibly believe that this company—whose co-founder Paul Clement was just last month crowing online about the platform’s profitability and contrasting that success with the site’s competitors, who he described as “running on fumes”—is truly in favor of radical change? RA might present itself as a well-intentioned editorial outlet with all the right politics, but its actual core business is selling tickets, and during the past two decades, the company has stuck its tentacles into scenes all around the globe, extracting wealth from countless independent artists, promoters, venues and fans along the way. Most of that extraction takes the form of ticketing fees, but last year it was expanded to include Bumps, a feature which allows promoters to boost the position of their events in RA’s listings—for a price, of course.
Some of Gillett’s more cutting words took specific aim at festivals and large-scale events, lamenting how their rise “hollows out dance music's self-reliant middle tier, and enriches its most commercial operators.” Again, he’s right, but it doesn’t really square with Resident Advisor’s editorial, which actively encourages the festivalization of dance music, devoting a monthly feature to a round-up of the world’s top upcoming festivals and publishing so many festival-related news stories that the topic has its own dedicated section. Even if one sets aside how much of that editorial is likely due to partnership agreements with festivals—which is a big ask, especially when the existence of those partnerships is rarely publicly disclosed—it’s difficult to swallow the idea that RA truly sees these events as deleterious to the culture. During the past week alone, more than 20% of the site’s total news content was specifically focused on festivals. (Ironically enough, a similarly high percentage of that news coverage was dedicated to club and venue closures around the world. Maybe there’s a connection there?)
Resident Advisor’s public brand centers around its stated support for grassroots culture—that was certainly part of the reason why the company’s founders felt comfortable receiving an eyebrow-raising £750,000 grant from the UK Arts Council during COVID—but the platform doesn’t exactly shy away from corporate actors. Aside from its dealings with large-scale festival and club promoters, the company also runs 23:59, an in-house creative studio that’s designed to attract corporate capital and partner with “brands wanting to connect with the electronic music and nightlife community around the world.” Some may also remember that RA proudly announced a global partnership with Spotify back in 2020, and while the company is pretty quiet about that now, and even fawns over the work of Spotify critics like Liz Pelly, it continues to curate playlists on the platform. Moreover, the RA Pro site still promises promoters Spotify integration and the chance to put their events “in front of 248 million monthly active users.”
Do these things invalidate all of the work being done by Resident Advisor’s editorial staff? Of course not. Doing music journalism—or, frankly, journalism of any kind—at scale in 2025 requires some level of compromise and cognitive dissonance. It’s been that way for a while, and some similar critiques were levied at Red Bull Music Academy, where I myself worked for several years during the 2010s. (As it happens, RBMA is also where I first crossed paths with Gabriel Szatan, who’s currently Resident Advisor’s head of editorial.) Even now, I publish First Floor via Substack, an investment capital-fueled platform with its own questionable business and editorial practices. Corporations have invaded music culture at nearly every level, and that makes moral purity all but impossible for almost everyone involved.
At the same time, it takes a lot of gall for an operation like Resident Advisor to come out and loudly argue for a “radical shift in thinking” when such a shift so clearly runs counter to how the company conducts its business. In that context, Gillett’s column ultimately feels like an act of virtue signaling, the dance music equivalent of the pro-environment ads that are occasionally cooked up by fossil fuel companies. That’s not a knock against the article’s author, whose stances and work have long advocated for change, but his words are ultimately being used by RA as engagement bait.
On that front, the column is already a huge success, as its associated Instagram post has generated more than 6000 likes and 150 comments in less than 24 hours. Some of those comments point to the same hypocrisies I’ve mentioned here, but that’s to RA’s benefit, as nothing stokes the algorithm quite like an online dust-up. Meanwhile, Resident Advisor has sent a message to the world that it cares, and really wants change, even as it does little of substance to actually achieve it. (The fact that the company’s publicly proclaimed profitability and deeply entrenched position in the industry gives it a significant capacity to directly enact and influence the kind of change that Gillett is calling for … well, that’s conveniently been left out of the conversation.)
But what do I know? According to Resident Advisor’s previously stated rubric, pointing out problems within dance music—even the ones the platform itself is perpetuating—is nothing more than a cynical act of “sustaining the gloom.” It’s a clever tactic, and might help to diffuse some of the critique that’s frequently sent in RA’s direction, but it won’t do much to stop dance music’s broader cultural decay. As Gillett’s column said, “the mood out there is flat,” and clearly at least some folks at Resident Advisor are worried about it.
Here at First Floor, I’ve of course been worried about that for quite some time, but despite the newsletter’s admittedly grumpy reputation, I’ve been happy to point toward some promising developments in the culture during the past few months. Earlier this week, I published an article about the resurgence of bands (and band-like entities) in electronic music, a trend which makes sense during a time when artists and fans alike are craving more substantial, IRL connections. You’ll find that below, along with the rest of today’s digest, which rounds up a selection of pertinent news items, new release announcements and suggested reading links from the last week. There’s a bunch of new music on offer too, as I’ve combed through the avalanche of records that dropped during the past seven days and have come up with a batch of highly recommended tunes. I’ve also enlisted the services of Egyptian producer Hassan Abou Alam, who provides a special guest recommendation that you won’t want to miss.
As always, there’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get into it.
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 an essay about bands, which surprisingly appear to be resurgent in contemporary dance music. This article considers why that happens, and how it just might be a solution to some of the issues—both spiritual and economic—that are currently plaguing the genre.
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.
With a new album from her Whatever the Weather alias dropping last Friday, Loraine James has been everywhere lately. And yes, that includes the “Listen Up” section of today’s First Floor digest (scroll down to find that), but those craving more substantive chats with the London artist should check out the interviews she’s done in recent weeks with zensounds’ Stephan Kunze, Unknown Rhythms’ Levi Dayan and Ransom Note’s Alasdair King.
Celia Hollander is an LA native, and one of many musicians who lost their homes to the devastating fires that swept through the city back in January. She talks a bit about that experience in a new interview with Matthew Schnipper for his Deep Voices newsletter, although the conversation doesn’t linger on tragedy, largely focusing instead on Hollander’s music and how she’s evolved as an artist over the years.
DJ Mag deserves credit for continually devoting resources to the documenting of dance music history, and its latest article in that vein was written by Matt Anniss, who shines a light on Black Secret Technology, a 1995 album by A Guy Called Gerald. Diving deep into archival press coverage of the record (and enlisting the help of drum & bass icon Fabio to tell the story), Anniss lays out how it redefined jungle—and caught the attention of none other than David Bowie.
In experimental music circles, the influence of the Room40 imprint looms especially large, and as writer Matthew Blackwell explains in a new profile of the label for Bandcamp Daily, that’s partially because the Australian outpost released approximately 140 albums during the Covid lockdowns. That’s quite a number, but Room40’s catalog goes back a full 25 years, and the feature traces back that history with founder Lawrence English before highlighting some of the label’s cornerstone releases.
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.
Longtime kranky affiliate Brian Foote—who’s previously shared a guest recommendation with First Floor—has started another label. Granted, he already co-founded the excellent Peak Oil imprint, and last year launched False Aralia in collaboration with artist Izaak Schlossman, but his latest venture, FO, is the first label he’s done on his own. To kick off the new platform, he’ll be releasing the self-titled debut from rest symbol, a London-based trio whose members have previously popped up on labels like Apron, Touching Bass and 5 Gate Temple. The record, which has been poetically billed as “a sticky distillate of dissociated exotica, orchestral ambience, psychedelic dub and smoke-choked soul,” is officially out on May 23, but the whole thing can already be heard—at least for now—right here.
Adding to her lengthy list of collaborative endeavors, ambient / experimental artist perila has composed all of the sounds for otherspace, “a generative, immersive and audio-reactive sound experience presented within a smartphone app.” More specifically, she’s created four “atmospheric spaces,” and while they’re said to be experienced most fully via the app—which is available now for both iOS and Android—perila’s work can also be heard on Bandcamp, where the compositions are also available on a series of limited-edition cassettes.
On March 21 (i.e. tomorrow), Jaymie Silk will be releasing the third and final installment of his Missing Tracks trilogy. The byproduct of a burglary in which the Paris-based producer lost his laptop—and the project files for dozens of unreleased tracks—the series collects demos of songs that he’d previously sent out to friends and colleagues. Volume 1 and Volume 2 of Missing Tracks dropped earlier this year, and several songs from Volume 3 have already been made available here.
Working with samples compiled from Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum, Jlin has completed a new project called B12. No music has been shared yet, but it’s slated for a March 21 release (again, that’s tomorrow) via Metalabel and will consist of a new single, a short film documenting the production process, an interview with the Indiana native and more.
Ben Frost has completed a new album. Entitled Under Certain Light and Atmospheric Conditions, it stems from two years of live shows and is said to be a “38-minute dreamspace of jet lag, melatonin supplements, roaring crowds and failing technology.” Mute will be releasing the record on May 16, but LP cut “Permcat, Ки́їв” has already been shared.
HASSAN ABOU ALAM 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 Hassan Abou Alam, an Egyptian producer whose freewheeling bass explorations have helped extend the hardcore continuum to the streets of Cairo. Last year’s Mesh Mafhoom EP for Nerve Collect was a rowdy career highlight, though Abou Alam’s catalog also includes speaker-rattling outings on labels like YUKU, Rhythm Section, Banoffee Pies and Naive. And while the club may be his primary focus, he recently unveiled a new, ambient-leaning alias, Hablam, which officially debuted with the Saya7an EP. His next move is anyone’s guess, but in the meantime, Abou Alam has taken a few moments here to pay tribute to another key member of Cairo’s talent-rich scene.
ZULI “Where Do You Go” (UIQ)
I first heard this track on one of ZULI’s livestreamed sets during Covid. The moment it started playing, I had to know what it was. I immediately asked him, and he told me it was one of his own tunes. As soon as he sent me a promo, I listened to the full track and was blown away.
There’s something about “Where Do You Go” that always gets me. If you’ve seen me play a DJ set at any point in the past four years, you’ve definitely heard me drop it. Usually, I get bored of tracks after hearing them too many times, but not this one. What makes it so special?
Insane sound design
Mind-blowing drum programming
Unpredictable arrangement that keeps you locked in
ZULI doesn’t leave any room to zone out with this one. It hits hard every single time.
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.
Thelma “Greenhouse” (ec2a)
In need of a fresh banger? “Greenhouse” is ready to serve. The punchy lead cut on Thelma’s new The Higher Land EP, it’s a sleek and irrepressibly springy tune, though there’s undoubtedly some techno in its DNA. At times, the work of Floorplan even comes to mind, but Thelma—who originally hails from Switzerland and is currently based in Barcelona—has infused her work with just a touch of rubbery swing, making an already lively tune feel downright exuberant.
Kid Spatula “Nadsys” (Third Kind)
Mike Paradinas has been on a hell of a run during the past few years, dropping a slew of neon-streaked rave records on his own Planet Mu label and even taking an ambient-ish detour onto Balmat. Most of that activity has taken place under the guise of his primary artist moniker, µ-Ziq, but Paradinas has always been a man of many names, and for his latest outing, Joozy, he’s curiously elected to dust off his Kid Spatula alias, which had lain dormant for more than 20 years. The genre-melding LP dabbles in ambient, IDM, psychedelia and an assortment of fragmented club rhythms, and Paradinas himself cites the influence of ’70s jazz fusion and ’80s TV themes, which helps to explain the loose, and often whimsical, feel of the music on offer. “Nadsys,” an early highlight, is particularly vibrant, its glitched-out breakbeats combining with the song’s floaty pastels to conjure up memories of old Sega Genesis game soundtracks.
Jorg Kuning “Mercedes” (Wisdom Teeth)
The UK bass sphere has a penchant for darkness, but a big part of what makes the Wisdom Teeth label so special is its seemingly insatiable appetite for color and warmth. Elvers Pass, the latest EP from UK producer Jorg Kuning, fits comfortably into the imprint’s kaleidoscopic remit, and it opens with the jolly “Mercedes,” a merrily trundling number that owes as much to Saturday morning cartoons and the underwater levels of assorted Mario games as it does the more elastic end of the house music spectrum. Melodically radiant and spiritually playful, it’s the kind of tune that’s a joy to listen to, in just about any setting.
Yaleesa Hall “Voices” (Timedance)
For more than a decade now, the Timedance label has been tossing various chunks of the hardcore continuum into a blender, and Yaleesa Hall’s new Halfway Gone EP is the Bristol outpost’s latest bass-centric smoothie. Across its four tracks, the Amsterdam-based producer and longtime Will & Ink affiliate nods to jungle, dancehall, electro, garage, techno and more, and her muck-encrusted rhythms sound especially good on the standout “Voices.” The song’s disembodied (and largely unintelligible) vocal loop—which sounds a bit like Kirsty Hawkshaw, the voice of Opus III’s classic “It’s a Fine Day”—adds a celestial touch to the proceedings, and while Hall’s drum sounds may be deliciously unpolished, their crooked strut prevents the song from ever feeling like a moody dirge.
Windu “Crystal Tears” (topo2)
Considering that the tracklist for the new Juxtapose LP was assembled from a pool of more than 250 songs, it feels almost wrong to shine a light on just one of them, especially when the album—the first from Dutch producer Windu—satisfyingly covers so much stylistic ground. Credit topo2 founder Bert de Rooij for having the patience to sort through seven years of demos and fish out the gems—it undoubtedly helped that Windu also happens to be his brother—but the record’s contents include forays into Low End Theory-style beatscapes (“Parkstraat”), dub-tinged Balearic steppers (“Yesterday”), woozy slo-mo jungle (“Metroid”), jazzy trap instrumentals (“A|O”) and more. With 13 tracks (plus five more on the digital version), there’s a lot to explore, but “Crystal Tears” is a true standout, layering chilled, Boards of Canada-esque synths atop a cooly shuffling beat and bathing the whole thing in a scratchy haze.
Whatever the Weather “26°C” (Ghostly International)
Having filled multiple albums—both under her own name and as Whatever the Weather—with taut compositions and precision-crafted rhythms, Loraine James has notably lightened up on her latest full-length. Whatever the Weather II is a free-floating, largely drumless collection of tunes, one in which the compositions are relatively minimal—but, importantly, not frigid—and the UK producer appears to be more interested in cultivating moods than anything resembling a hook. LP standout “26°C” is a weightless, and rather tender, excursion that could easily be mistaken for something off an old new age cassette, and though the images it conjures may be miles away from the grey London tower blocks in which James’ artistic vision was forged, here she sounds remarkably comfortable cruising the astral plane.
Judith Hamann “by the line” (Shelter Press)
The cellists just keep on coming. It was only a year ago that First Floor dedicated more than 2000 words to highlighting some of the many cellists pushing the boundaries of electronic and experimental music, and as it turns out, that article was only scratching the surface. The fact that it didn’t include Judith Hamann was an obvious oversight, as the Australian artist has lent her craft to more than a dozen releases during the past decade. Few of those releases, however, were solo efforts, which makes her new Aunes LP a special treat. Heavy on drones—which Hamann created using not just cello, but synths and organ as well—and intermittent passages of the artist’s own voice, it’s a patient, and somewhat solemn, effort, but not an uninviting one. As paradoxical as this may sound, album opener “by the line” is both austere and intimate, its spartan tones providing a moody backdrop for the undeniable humanity of the song’s scuttling field recordings and Hamann’s hushed vocals.
Hekla “Var” (Phantom Limb)
It’s hard to pin down how or why, but Icelandic artists do seem to have a real knack for chilly grandiosity. Okay, maybe the chilly part makes sense, but rather than meekly huddling by the fire and waiting for the winter to pass, Icelandic musicians routinely employ cathedral-ready sonics, elevating even the most humble of expressions into borderline transcendental events. “Var,” a highlight of Hekla’s arresting new Turnar album, follows that roadmap, and with its angelic, choir-like vocals and heavily reverbed percussive strikes, the song immediately sounds like a dispatch from the heavens. Yet as its soaring melodies—many of them emitted by Hekla’s signature theremin—are joined by ominous growls and howling static, the intensity grows and the mood takes a turn toward darkness, prompting questions of whether the aforementioned heavens are in fact populated not by benevolent guardians, but malignant forces.
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.