- "We were searching for our own voice." The esteemed Phuture member reflects on pioneering acid house and experimentation in early dance music.
- Nathaniel Pierre Jones—AKA DJ Pierre—is best known for forming the "squelch" that we now call acid. When the Chicago artist and his friends Spanky and Herb J picked up a TB-303 in a pawn shop, they captured the sound of knobs being turned as a pattern started to run. This wasn't how the instrument was intended to be used, but they were so enthralled by the result that they reproduced and released it as an EP called Acid Tracks under the name Phuture in 1987. That was the birth of the acid house era, which became an international music phenomenon.
In this conversation, recorded live at Ibiza's International Music Summit, Jones retraces the acid craze and the nature of creative risk-taking. In his view, contemporary dance music producers have gotten too accustomed to using sample packs, presets and other tools that limit originality. He questions if today's music actually enhances our lives and what a mutually supportive industry could look like.
Listen to the episode in full.