A couple of years ago, Furface (MIDI controllers) and Johnny La Rock (samplers, turntables), who both played in the local hip-hop outfit Presque Vu, focused on solo projects before reconvening to form Johnny La Rock & Furface with Ottawa guitarist Will Hooper. The band creates moody electronic music that recalls '90s era DJ Shadow.
Now, La Rock has just announced he will release a new solo single, “Dance to the Rhythm (Party Time),” on Dec. 20 on digital outlets like iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Bandcamp.
With its pulsating synths and dance club vocals, it sounds like it could be the soundtrack for an aerobics video. The tune represents a shift from La Rock's 2015 instrumental downtempo hip-hop release, Splittape.
"It's a departure for me from my hip-hoppy type stuff," says La Rock. "It's very Eurodance. I have an obsession for that stuff. It will also have two remixes released with it — one is by Furface and the other is an 8-bit remix I did of it."
As a youth, La Rock collected cassettes by artists like La Bouche, Snap!, the KLF, and the Real McCoy. Cauliflower Audio's Adam Boose, who also played additional synths on the cut, mixed and mastered the track.
La Rock plans to release a series of singles like “Dance to the Rhythm (Party Time)” for the next few months.
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