As an American, it is often hard to understand the impact that dance music has in other parts of the world. With the UK emerging as a hotbed of new music, Floating Points is quickly redefining the style of Acid Jazz. While the earlier offerings (“K&G Beat”) were constructed from the traits of that lost subgenre, the new single “People’s Potential” uses that genome to create a vastly different variation.

Floating Points has released a blistering array of singles, all linked together through a common thread that I like to call the “underrhythm.” This subdued constant pulse is altered by minimal electronics, some melodic or some near atonal. The beat itself rarely reaches a volume in the mix to result in pounding temples. Instead, it occupies your chest where it pumps like a heartbeat even after the song is over.

“People’s Potential” is the realization of these ideas. A simple loop over a minimal melody placed above a fierce groove. Even as the hi-hats sizzle like disco, the aforementioned underrhythm propels the song in the same way a booming beat does in a hip-hop song. The result is a track that resonates inside you, long after you stopped listening.

♫ Floating Points – “People’s Potential”

Floating Points