SWITCH with AD/D and BABY JOEL at Footwork (435 Adelaide West), Saturday (February 10). $20 advance. www.addevents.com. Rating: NNNNN
Whether you realize it or not, if you’ve been partying at all the past couple years there’s a very good chance that you’ve danced to one of Dave Taylor’s productions. It doesn’t matter what scene you tend to stick to – his tracks get played to death as much in the house scene as in the indie dance world.
Taylor’s sound (and that of his pet label, Dubsided) has become recognizable enough to earn an unfortunate genre tag, fidget house, in the UK press.
“That was really just supposed to be a joke amongst friends,” explains Taylor. “Everyone kept asking us what we called what we were doing, and it kind of fits. We were bored of all this house music that didn’t do anything, that was so repetitive. The stuff we do does kind of fidget around. I don’t really like to call it that, though. To me it’s just jackin’ house.”
If anything, the unwieldiness of the term serves to highlight that the defining trend in club culture is its lack of one. We’re at an unusual juncture, when DJs are expected to cross numerous genres within a set, and all the better if it happens in one song.
Sometimes Taylor’s music sounds like your computer is seizing up, but then suddenly all the stutters and weird edits settle into a punchy groove, accentuated with raw, buzzing, razor-sharp synths and propelled by dirty drum loops on the verge of sounding sloppy. It’s dance music doing what it does best, accessible but also twisted and fucked up at the same time.
Despite being widely tipped as one of the top new producers of the moment, the UK-based producer is still a somewhat mysterious figure, hiding his prolific output under a number of pseudonyms. Solid Groove and Switch are his best-known aliases, but he’s also recorded as A Brucker, Modeler and Induceve, tackling various moods and styles while leaving his unmistakable touch on them all.
Most recently, he’s been busy leaving that touch all over M.I.A.’s upcoming album, and he confirms reports that it will also feature production by Timbaland and Diplo, among others.
“We met when she was recording Arular, and I worked with her and Diplo on a couple of songs. We developed a really good relationship. She has very strong ideas on music, and it was a privilege to be able to work with her.”
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com
