First Floor #320 – The Wait Was Worth It
An interview with Untold, plus a round-up of the latest electronic music news and a fresh batch of recommended new releases.
As a general rule, First Floor tries to steer clear of loudly crowing every time an exclusive piece of content gets published in the newsletter. First of all, the value of exclusivity only means so much in the context of niche electronic music, and in a time when the exclusivity of something pretty much ends the second it goes online, it usually makes sense to keep the self-congratulation to a minimum.
All that said, I have to admit that I’m pretty damn excited about the Untold interview that was published earlier this week.
Having devoted a whole lot of time and attention to the post-dubstep scene when it was popping during the late 2000s and early 2010s, I closely followed Untold’s every (musical) move during those days, and feel confident in saying that both his productions and his curation of the Hemlock label were instrumental in shaping the sound and style of the era. So when he suddenly dropped out of sight around 2015 or 2016, the lingering why of it all genuinely nagged at me, and it’s continued to nag at me during the past decade. Untold himself wasn’t addressing the matter, at least not publicly, and although I myself spent at least five years periodically prodding him about a potential interview, he always politely turned down my requests.
Earlier this year, however, he changed his mind—the fact that he’s once again producing and releasing music at a steady clip likely had something to do with it—and I’m happy to say that just a few days ago, First Floor published the first substantive Untold interview in at least 10 years. That feels like a big deal, at least to me, and I’m guessing that other people whose minds were once blown by tracks like “Anaconda,” “Gonna Work Out Fine” and “No One Likes a Smart Arse” will feel the same way.
A link to that interview is below—and yes, the paywall is now (temporarily) down—but that’s just the beginning of what you’ll find in today’s First Floor digest. As usual, I’ve assembled a round-up of electronic music-related news items, new release announcements and suggested reading links from the past week, and for those looking to freshen up their listening diet, there’s also an assortment of recommended new releases. And speaking of recommendations, First Floor has also recruited DJ, journalist, promoter and ride-or-die rave lifer Star Eyes (a.k.a Vivian Host) to drop in with some choice selections of her own.
Let’s get into it.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Every week, 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 open to everyone, and it’s an interview with Untold, who’s once again actively producing and releasing music after spending the better part of a decade away from the daily grind of dance music. He discusses what prompted both his unexpected departure and his recent return, along with the new balance he’s struck between music and everything else in his life.
Untold Defined an Era and Then Disappeared Without Warning; Now He's Back
When was the last time that dance music felt truly healthy? Depending who you ask, the responses to that question will vary wildly, but the post-dubstep era of the late 2000s and early 2010s is bound to be a popular answer. Although the nomenclature leaves something to be desired—both “post-dubstep” and the term that supplanted it (“bass music”) are frustratingly vague—those years were unquestionably a time of profound creativity, innovation and hybridity. As much as dubstep provided a foundation for what was happening, the post-dubstep sphere is one in which genre boundaries were intentionally (and often thrillingly) blurred, with artists folding in elements of house, techno, garage, grime, footwork and a litany of regional sounds. Fueled by an internet that still felt fun—and, crucially, had yet to impose a strict algorithmic regime upon its user base—participants in this scene looked beyond borders like they never had before, expanding the limits of the hardcore continuum as they forged connections not just between major hubs like the UK and Berlin, but with artists, labels and fans all around the globe.
ANOTHER THING I DID
A few months back, Barcelona-based writer Frankie Pizá asked me some questions about the supposed resurgence of vinyl and other physical formats, along with the accompanying narrative that this resurgence represents some sort of pushback against our increasingly ephemeral and online existence. Some of my thoughts on those issues then wound up in a feature he put together for Spanish newspaper El País. Entitled “The Vinyl Dilemma: Will Physical Objects Save Us in the Era of the Enshittified Internet, or Is It Nothing More Than a New Form of Posturing?,” the piece—which, to be clear, is written in Spanish—was first made available in print earlier this year, but I’m sharing the digital version.
(And speaking of Frankie Pizá, he last week published another must-read article in his own FRANKA newsletter. A response to James Blake’s latest viral Instagram posts, in which the UK artist complained that everything in the modern music industry is fake, Pizá dug further into the idea, dissecting the “fakeness” of taste, fandom, follower counts, influencers, artists, music making, trauma and more, and then considered what, if anything, we can collectively do about it.)
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING
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.
This news has been circulating for a couple of weeks already—apologies for not catching it earlier—but Bandcamp recently eliminated 10 engineering roles, which one laid off employee described in a Bluesky post as “most of the remaining” engineering team. That post triggered a fair bit of online chatter and worry-filled speculation about Bandcamp’s current health and future prospects, prompting the company to make a statement to the Hypebot platform in which it confirmed the staff reductions, but also asserted that its “commitment to artists, fans and the quality of our work remains unchanged.”
While many of the protests against KKR-affiliated festivals and events have slowed to a crawl in 2026, Boiler Room still continues to inspire quite a bit of animosity and activism. First Floor published an article about this phenomenon last year, but just last weekend, the organization Boycott Room staged a multi-pronged protest against a two-night Boiler Room event at NYC venue Under the K Bridge. On the event’s first night, protesters staged a “die in,” laying on the ground in the middle of the dancefloor for 90 minutes while holding signs and wearing clothing that pointed toward KKR’s ties to Israel and the genocide in Gaza. In a video posted by Boycott Room, it appears that those protesters were at one point physically assaulted when an attendee intentionally jumped on top of them. Another video, recorded on the Boiler Room event’s second night, shows a protester going on stage and unplugging cables, which shut off the music and led to his removal by security staff.
Outside of the actual Boiler Room event, Boycott Room also scheduled its own counterprogramming in the form of a two-room “rave” that included artists like DJ Haram, Sister Zo and Archangel. In the aftermath of all this, and the circulation of the aforementioned videos online, Boiler Room released a statement in which the company said that it respects “the right to peaceful protest” and encourages “anyone who believes they have been a victim of a crime, or has information on this matter, to make themselves known to the police.”In a new report by tech-focused outlet 404 Media, Jason Koebler examined hacked sourced code from Suno, which revealed that the generative AI music platform was trained using millions of songs and lyrics that were scraped without permission from “YouTube Music, Deezer and Genius, as well as from the stock music libraries Pond5, Jamendo, Freesound, the International Music Score Library Project and podcasts via RSS feeds.” Suno, which has already been subject to numerous lawsuits concerning its unauthorized use of copyrighted material, didn’t exactly deny this latest claim, releasing a statement that said, “As we have stated in public filings and disclosures, Suno’s AI models have been trained on publicly available music files and related metadata accessible on third-party websites on the open Internet.”
Suno also factored into another legal matter this week, as Warner Music Group asked a federal court in New York to throw out a lawsuit brought forth by the American Federation of Musicians. As explained in an article by Music Business Worldwide, the musicians organization claims that the recent AI licensing deals that Warner and Universal Music Group forged with Suno and Udio were in violation of a previous Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA) that the union had struck with the majors, as it licensed “recordings made by its members without paying or crediting them.” Warner is now countering that claim by stating that because AI platforms like Suno and Udio did not exist when the SRLA was made in 2023, the musicians are not now entitled to compensation for the licensing of their work for AI training purposes.
Anyone who’s seen Evicshen perform will likely agree that she’s one of the most thrilling live acts in all of experimental music. Yet she rarely gets mentioned by the music press, possibly because her catalog of recorded output is relatively small. That, however, didn’t stop writer Richard Foster from profiling the San Francisco-based artist for The Quietus; the resulting piece details the eccentricities of her live show—examples include her use of a whip, a bandsaw blade, a “body cello” and styluses that she’s embedded into acrylic nails—and the realities of a life in which she’s almost constantly on the road.
Having just dropped The Architecture of Perception, a new album from his Quiet Husband alias, UK artist Richie Culver has popped up in a new Clash feature. Interviewed by journalist Jim Ottewill, he discusses the similarities between painting and techno, reflects on how his northern roots continue to influence his work (even as he lives in London) and digs into the unorthodox sound of his latest record.
Smalltown Supersound is one of independent music’s most beloved labels, despite the fact that the Norwegian outpost has never really stuck to a single sound or scene. Looking to figure out how that’s been possible, writer Philip Sherburne called up label founder Joakim Haugland, and the long conversation that followed has now been published via the former’s Futurism Restated newsletter. The two spend a lot of time unearthing Haugland’s beginnings in Oslo’s punk and DIY circuit and also revisit the early days of the label, but they gradually move through Smalltown’s decades-long history, outlining how the catalog is something Haugland now sees as a kind of soundtrack to his life.
For bass music diehards, a team-up between Addison Groove and Sam Binga qualifies as a genuinely big deal, and with the duo’s new BAGS INC. full-length now available, they’ve spoken to Beatportal about how the record came together. The unbylined article explains how the LP is rooted in a 72-hour session that the Bristolian pair booked at Devon Analogue Studios—a place which has a whole lot of “inspiring kit” on hand—and also finds the two artists outlining how their enduring love for raw, low-end-heavy dance music (and Dance Mania in particular) shaped the direction of the album.
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.
Actress has a new album on the way. Following a handful of outings on Smalltown Supersound and the recent Concrete Waves collaboration with synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani, the UK producer has returned to his longtime home at Ninja Tune, which will be releasing the forthcoming LP on September 18. Entitled Radical Frame and billed as the latest of his many contributions to the “Black avant-garde,” it includes guest appearances from Rainy Miller and CASISDEAD. The latter appears on “Live by You,” a song that first surfaced last month, and another cut from the record, “Overchord,” has now been made available as well. Both tracks can be heard here.
Continuing its push beyond the borders of Latin America (and the work of the region’s extended diaspora), TraTraTrax has shared the news that its next offering is an EP from Berlin-based Canadian Aquarian. The three-song effort is called A RUSH OF FAT TO THE HEAD, and though the complete release—which includes a remix from gyrofield and is said to have been “built around mutant dembow techno, metallic textures and a restless sense of rhythmic experimentation”—won’t be issued until July 30, its title track has already been shared.
STAR EYES HAS BETTER TASTE THAN I DO
First Floor is in many ways a one-person operation, but each week, the newsletter cedes the spotlight to an artist, writer or other figure from the music world, inviting them to recommend a piece of music.
The latest guest recommendation comes from Star Eyes, a Los Angeles native who’s spent decades foraging through virtually every corner of the rave ecosystem. You may also know her as veteran electronic music journalist / radio host / podcaster Vivian Host, or perhaps you’re familiar with her genre-hopping DJ sets, her predilection for low-end-heavy sounds of all shapes and sizes, or the time she’s spent throwing mind-bending raves as a founding member of crews like Trouble & Bass and Warp Mode. In short, Star Eyes is both a rave lifer and something of a walking electronic music encyclopedia, and I’m now scolding myself for waiting so long to ask her to do one of these things… [READ MORE ABOUT STAR EYES + CHECK OUT HER GUEST RECOMMENDATION]
RECOMMENDED RELEASES
The following is a summary of First Floor’s favorite new releases that came out during the past week or so. The blurbs below are only brief excerpts of the full write-ups; to read the complete recommendation (and hear the actual music) for an individual release, click the “Listen to the Music + Read the Full Write-Up” link, or you can also just head over to this convenient Buy Music Club list if you prefer to listen to all of the selections in one place.
Sasha – Hollow Sun (Last Night on Earth)
… A new two-tracker on Sasha’s own Last Night on Earth imprint, it’s easily the best record he’s made in years (decades?), and though it may not reach the same heights as stone-cold classics like the Xpander EP and his “Scorchio” collaboration with Underworld’s Darren Emerson, it exists in a similar sonic universe. [LISTEN TO THE MUSIC + READ THE FULL WRITE-UP]
Imaabs – Trisomnía (Precious Metals)
… It’s a corroded club smasher, one in which his jackhammering, take-no-prisoners drum attack appears determined to bust through the monotony of the modern dancefloor. With its nimble rhythms and industrial sheen, the song does crib a few notes from Classical Curves-era Jam City, but Imaabs is more inclined to gallop through the murk, complementing his chrome textures with dramatic jump cuts and some eerie sound design. [LISTEN TO THE MUSIC + READ THE FULL WRITE-UP]
Quoting G – I Can Feel It (In My Bones) (Clone Royal Oak)
… It’s the original “I Can Feel It (In My Bones)” that shines brightest, its Korg M1 organ notes—which nod to golden-era MK—providing a bouncy counterpoint to the song’s hypnotically lush pads and the melancholy-tinged vocalizations of its unnamed diva. [LISTEN TO THE MUSIC + READ THE FULL WRITE-UP]
Topdown Dialectic – False LP A (False Aralia)
… Anyone who enjoyed the vaporous muck and funk-dotted haze of earlier Topdown Dialectic releases is sure to be satisfied by this latest full-length. Sure, the project continues to take cues from ambient and dub techno, but at the end of the day, it’s too kinetic for the former and too unpredictable for the latter, existing in its own, uniquely hypnotic netherworld. [LISTEN TO THE MUSIC + READ THE FULL WRITE-UP]
That brings us to the end of today’s First Floor digest. Thank you so much for reading the newsletter, and remember, you can find all of this week’s recommended releases on this handy Buy Music Club list. (If you like them, please buy them.)
Until next time,
Shawn
First Floor is published and overseen by Shawn Reynaldo, 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 other potential opportunities.