Energetic Currency.
Speaking to Big Kani back in October 2021, the floodgates were open for clubs and parties. People were making the most of the new found freedom. There was a looming presence with Winter approaching but that didn’t phase many people, Jamie included.
We sat in Jamie’s own music studio tucked away in the garden at the back of his home. Each piece of his gear was emphatically explained. He immersed himself in experimentation from the off. His process, an organic one. Feeling out sounds and seeing what comes through with a variety of equipment.. Finding a proper groove with a loop, he locked himself in for the next half hour. Creative flow had fully kicked off.
Our time chatting felt like a talk through the ages. Bringing up past and vivid first-ever memories with a kindred spirit. His love for his scene and music in general was heavily influenced by the physical experience. Live music and sound systems. Speaking openly about his pandemic struggles, specifically with digital coping mechanisms running through society in the forms of live streams and keeping online presences in general. He took a back seat within this time to focus on his close ones and his own music. The core of the rave felt like it was irreplaceable in those times and had too much of a sensory attachment to ever be resembled in the comfort of someone’s home. Now he felt like he was flourishing with those all-encompassing experiences of clubs and fezzys. A phase of care-free energy and a condensed Summer of saturated choice.
The physical space is key to the elements of the system. Without it things are lacking in importance and inspiration. Big Kani’s emphasis on the dance floor’s sensory importance shines a beacon on the sound and energies that construct what is so important for each and every person. It’s a chemistry concocted through stripping back our everyday. Revealing a place of crowds flowing. Cascading through the lights and sounds that blur and conduct this late night formula.
“Where rock related an experience (autobiographical or imaginable), rave constructs an experience. Bypassing interpretation, the listener is hurled into a vortex of heightened sensations, abstract emotions and artificial energies.” Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash.