“Footwork has a natural tendency to mutate, and it is a defining characteristic of Outlines,” says DJ, curator, and promoter Paweł “Paide” Dunajko in The Wire 470. Dunajko launched the tape label Outlines in 2016 as a tool to explore and present how footwork evolves over different geographies and through artistic approaches. The imprint is categorised in two strands: the groove series is more beat-driven, while the guides series takes footwork into ambient and open ends. “I am testing how far I can transform this form without losing its roots from the horizon of my explorations,” declares Dunajko, who is persistent in his vision of minimalism, both in the sound and aesthetics of tapes he puts out.

Hubert Zemler
“groove 8.1”
From groove 8

Dunajko enjoys unexpected twists in the DNA of footwork sound and likes to commission musicians outside the footwork culture. An example would be classically trained percussionist Hubert Zemler (part of the duo OPLA), who is active in improvisation and free-jazz music scenes. Zemler's tape 2018's groove 8 is based on multi-layered and playful rhythms with muscular sub-frequencies and synthesisers beeping like a spaceship’s clockwork. The A-side is guided by the voice of Stanisław Lem about cooking human liver – a sample is taken from a sci- fi writer's horror and humorous exercises for his little nephew to improve his writing and spelling in Polish.

Jana Rush
“WTF Iz Goin' On”
From groove 6

Chicago house and footwork veteran Jana Rush released the tape groove 6 on outlines in 2021, only a few months after her acclaimed album Painful Enlightenment on Planet Mu. Where the latter serves anxious rhythms reflecting on a period of mental distress, Rush’s contribution to the groove series with acid basslines wears more colours. As in the libidinal track “Eros” closing the A-side, or the B-side's “WTF Iz Goin’On”, which is layered with playful whistles.

IFS MA
“Yaksoq”
From REIFSMA

This year’s REIFSMA is a phantasmagorical journey that plays on the encounter between Tokyo based rapper and vocalist MA and Polish producer duo IFS of Krzysztof Ostrowski and Mateusz Wysocki (who, as Fischerle, added to the groove series with a solo tape). MA swings between caustic taunts, menacing barks, and ritualistic incantations. “Yaksoq” weaves gurgling acid synths with MA’s primal streams of consciousness. “This was just a spontaneous idea,” says Dunajko, explaining the evolution of the release. “Everything went very fast. It was about communication through music. The final result was probably completed at first take with minimal changes inside the tracks afterwards.”

Aylu
“groove 4.1”
From groove 4

Aylu’s footwork musique concrète on groove 4 is composed of ping pong ball sounds and is immediately intriguing. The Argentinian producer and founder of the ABYSS label pairs the rushing footwork tempos with elements of samba and snippets of field recordings which creates carnivalesque and magical realist moments.

SNKLS
“Le Feticheur”
From Glu River

2022’s Glu River by French producer Romain Dessert, who works under the alias SNKLS, is built on brutalist metallic productions, dystopian 160bpm variations, and palpitating bass throbs that sound like the juking footwork of giant mecha robots. “Le Feticheur”, with the tribal-industrial beat, refers to Dessert’s favourite character from the Diablo videogame series, so-called masked witch doctors who can summon the dead.

AGF
“groove 5.2”
From groove 5

When Dunajko participated in a sound workshop in Hailuoto, a Finnish island in the northern Baltic Sea, he hung out and gathered field recordings with sound artist, activist and local resident Antye Greie Ripatti (aka AGF/poemproducer). Only a few years later, it was natural to invite AGF to participate in the groove series. “Groove 5.2” is led by a robust bassline but stretches between points of near silence, squeaks, and the producer’s chopped voice reduced to syllables. The beat evokes morse code, like a frenzied dispatch from a frozen land.

Read Miloš Hroch's Unlimited Editions article in The Wire 470. Subscribers can also read the column online via the digital library.