Raumskaya: "Tolerance, Beauty, Love"

I love me some juke, but with all due respect DJ Rashaud and the Teklife crew, the genre is starting to get as stale as acid house circa 1991: a great concept run into the ground by too many self-limiting producers trying to make a buck off the sound without really developing it into new forms. Raumskaya does his part to make sure footstep doesn't follow down that same dead end path by going for short, choppy beats that are kind of variations on a theme... the track doesn't develop greatly throughout its length, but the drum patterns never repeat themselves. Not as danceable as the Teklife stuff but I guess the universe is ready for artjuke, eh?

DJ Rashad & THE PRESENT: "Too High"

I don't think I wrote about anyone in 2012 more than DJ Rashad, except for maybe Death Grips. The latter got measurably greater attention last year, as much for their label baiting as their music, which is admittedly incredible... but on the other hand, Rashad is clearly the Kanye West of this footwork thing, every production a step forward while continuing to make it easy. Here he mixes it up a bit by collaborating with THE PRESENT, and those female dream pop vocals definitely add another dimension to all those MC verses Rashad is normally known to fuck with.

DJ Rashad: "Kush Ain't Loud"

If footwork evolves and hangs around long enough to become a permanent fixture on the EDM scene, DJ Rashad's Teklife Vol. 1: Welcome to the Chi could very well become the ur-text all other footwork is assembled from. Shit's like a Rosetta Stone of skittering beats and wobbling bass, and "Kush Ain't Loud" is arguably the man's magnum opus to date.
  Kush Ain't Loud from Ashes57 on Vimeo.

Machinedrum & FaltyDL: "Give In 2"

I'm the footwork pimp. I proudly admit. Send me any ol' footwork / juke track and chances are I'll probably post the fuck out of it. It's the new dubstep, which means I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts before the bros get their damn dirty ape paws all over it. This one has an arty, non sequitur sense of progression but sticks close enough to that juke template to scratch any applicable itches.

Massacooramaan: "Trainwreck" [feat. DJ Rashad & RP Boo]

Jesus Christ what a racket. Avant-garde footwork? Take it. We already have artstep, why not art...work?

Massacooramaan is Dave Quam from Portland, pretty much the last place I'd expect any footwork/Chicago juke to come out of, but if one of those pasty ass West Coasters was going to do it I would definitely expect it to fall well within the confines of skullfuck territory. Homeboy's got another fucked up bit of electronic frippery here.

DJ Rashad & DJ Manny: "Ooh Babby"

This isn't the best footwork I've seen in a video, but the song is pretty tolerable.  Since Chicago is ground zero for the footwork movement in the US I can only assume that's frigid Lake Michigan we're gazing upon in the background... which kind of raises the question on whether footwork might not have evolved out of attempts to stay warm without looking too ridiculous.  OK, maybe not.

PS.  You have no idea how much I'd like to be able to edit the title of this Youtube video with a "[sic]" disclaimer.