Late-period Dance Mania, where some of the tropes that would be central to early 2000s ghettotech start to surface before the label's demise shifts the locus of the sound up I-94 to Detroit. “T-Shirt gashes Adina Howard “T Shirt & Panties, and “How We Look breaks out the classic male/female call and response vocal.

It’s been a bit - last time I was doing any writing this post could’ve been titled “Welcome to the Party or maybe “Back From the Dead 4. Historically, I’ve used this site as a mostly-static archive of my work; almost everything here was initially published via an indulgent little email newsletter that I ran for about a year from 2017 to 2018, with some interviews and other loosies from before and during that period accumulating at Tiny Mix Tapes and Passion of the Weiss. My focus since then has been on extended interview series highlighting specific scenes and cities - I went to Houston in late 2018; in 2019 I spoke on the phone with a bunch of figures from different points along Chicago’s dance music timeline and went to New Orleans that winter.

It was the first week of March, 2012, and I was on spring break. The Boys had assembled, as if having no other choice, to trek up to Richmond for a Neon Indian show. The opener, a duo called Purity Ring, left a much stronger impression.

Mobo Joe is a rapper and entrepreneur from Harvey, Louisiana. He’s best known as the founder of Mobo Records, as well as for his work, alongside Ace Nitty, in Lower Level Organization.

Max Minelli is a rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He’s best known for some twenty years’ worth of solo albums, mixtapes, and singles (including “Louisiana Sky, an all-timer), as well as for his work with C-Loc’s Concentration Camp collective. Earlier this year, he announced his retirement from rapping.

Dr. Holly Hobbs is a cultural researcher based in New Orleans, Louisiana. She’s best known as the founder of the NOLA Hip-Hop and Bounce Archive, and currently works as a corporate developement specialist for the University of New Orleans’s NPR affiliate WWNO.

J-Dawg is a rapper from Hollygrove, New Orleans. He’s best known as a member of Black Menace (along with Threat and DJ Jaz), as well as for his 1997 solo records The Dawg House and Smokin’ & Rollin’.

Lil Ya is a rapper from Third Ward, New Orleans. He’s best known as a member of U.N.L.V. (along with Tec-9 and Yella Boy), as well as for his 2000 solo record Another Massacre.

Young Bleed is a rapper and producer from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He’s best known for “How Ya Do Dat, from his debut My Balls and My Word, as well as his earlier work with C-Loc’s Concentration Camp clique and later run of independent releases via his labels Da'Tention Home and Trap Door Entertainment.

HTRK is a band from Melbourne, Australia, comprised of Jonnine Standish and Nigel Yang. They’re best known for 2014’s Psychic 9-5 Club, which was followed up with Venus in Leo this past August.