Part of the LA-based collective Fade to Mind, Rizzla belongs to a movement reaffirming dance music’s roots in black and gay cultural resistance
Protest music takes many forms. In the late 80s, techno guerrillas Jeff Mills and “Mad” Mike Banks formed the musical collective Underground Resistance as a reaction to the economic and social struggles of Detroit’s black community. Their movement was part of a wider nexus of anti-establishment dance music culture sweeping the globe, later encompassing the UK’s rave scene.
These days, electronic music’s political legacy is eclipsed by the dominant aesthetic of glossy EDM superclubs. However, Long Island-born DJ and producer Rizzla – aka Brian Friedberg – seeks to inject the spirit of dissent into his art. On 25 September, he releases his debut EP on the respected Los Angeles label Fade to Mind. “It’s the soundtrack to an uprising in its highs and really dirty lows,” says Friedberg of his track Iron Cages, the name of which is taken from social theorist Max Weber’s definition of capitalist bureaucracy.
Continue reading...by April Clare Welsh via Electronic music | The Guardian
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