Where Are We Going?

Last updated
Where Are We Going?
WhereAreWeGoingOctoOcta.jpg
Studio album by
Octo Octa
ReleasedMarch 24, 2017
Genre
Length58:48
Label HNYTRX
Producer
Octo Octa chronology
My Feelings Toward You
(2017)		Where Are We Going?
(2017)
Singles from Where Are We Going?
  1. "Move On (Let Go) (De-Stress Mix)"
    Released: February 17, 2018 [3]

Where Are We Going? is the fourth studio album of American house producer Maya Bouldry-Morrison, known by her stage name as Octo Octa. It was released in March 2017 by HNYTRX, a sub-imprint of queer label Honey Soundsystem. It is her first album to be released after publicly revealing in 2016 that she was transgender and contains a much more uplifting tone than the records she released before revealing her gender identity. While still following the classic house sound of her past releases, Bouldry-Morrison intended the LP to be a more "overt" statement than the "coded queer statement" of her previous album Between Two Selves (2013). The album was well received by critics and landed on the year-end lists of Crack Magazine , Mixmag , Noisey , and Resident Advisor .

House is a genre of electronic dance music. It was created by disc jockeys and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture in the early and mid 1980s, as DJs from the subculture began altering disco dance tracks to give them a more mechanical beat and deeper basslines. As well, these DJs began to mix synth pop, rap, Latin music, and even jazz into their tracks.

Maya Bouldry-Morrison, better known by her stage name Octo Octa, is an American house producer and DJ based in Brooklyn, New York.

<i>Crack Magazine</i>

Crack Magazine is a monthly independent music and culture magazine distributed across Europe.

Contents

Background and concept

In an interview for Resident Advisor published on February 3, 2016, Bouldry-Morrison came out as a trans woman and claimed she was planning to start producing an album conceptually about her transitioning process. [4] She wrote Where Are We Going? in 2016 shortly after doing the interview. [5] She cites the records of DJ Sprinkles such as Routes Not Roots (2006) and Midtown 120 Blues (2008) as inspiration to make the record: "Being trans, seeing art that's publicly being written by a trans producer meant a lot to me. I was happy to find work that was openly talking about it." [4]

<i>Resident Advisor</i> online music magazine

Resident Advisor is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. RA's editorial team provides news, music and event reviews, as well as films, features and interviews. The website also manages services that include event listings, ticket sales, club and promoter directories, photo galleries, artist and record label profiles, DJ charts, an online community, and the RA Podcast.

A trans woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women may experience gender dysphoria and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and sometimes sex reassignment surgery, which can bring immense relief and even resolve gender dysphoria entirely. Trans women may be heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual, asexual, or identify with other terms.

<i>Midtown 120 Blues</i> 2008 studio album by DJ Sprinkles

Midtown 120 Blues is a 2008 deep house album by Terre Thaemlitz under the name DJ Sprinkles.

Feeling that Bouldry-Morrison's previous album, Between Two Selves (2013) was a "coded queer statement," she wanted to make Where Are We Going? a more "overt" statement about her sexuality. [6] As such, she moved from 100% Silk to a queer label named Honey Soundsystem to work with Jackie House on the album: "I really wanted to do this record with a overtly queer label. That was super important to me. Also, Jackie just is really good at helping me realize what it should be and what we should be doing around it." [5] House handled many duties regarding the LP, such as the mastering of the songs and the record's promotion. [7]

Composition

Where Are We Going? continues Octo Octa's signature style of 1990s-inspired, Balearic-tinged piano-heavy chill-out house music. [6] [7] [8] Differences from previous records include more complex compositions, [9] less vocal samples, [10] and a brighter tone: while her past releases contained uncertain feelings that reflected her worries regarding revealing her gender identity publicly, Where Are We Going? has an uplifting tone. [11] However, it ends on a negative note with the second part of the title track. As she explained its meaning, "I’m good, overall, but I face a lot of unexpected interactions and emotions every day that I didn’t foresee before being out." [7]

Balearic beat, also known as Balearic house, or simply Balearic initially is an eclectic blend of DJ-led dance music that emerged in the mid-1980s. It later became the name of a more specific style of electronic dance music that was popular into the mid-1990s. Balearic beat was named for its popularity among European nightclub and beach rave patrons on the Balearic island of Ibiza, a popular tourist destination. Some dance music compilations referred to it as "the sound of Ibiza," even though many other, more aggressive and upbeat forms of dance music could be heard on the island, such as Balearic trance.

Chill-out is a loosely defined form of popular music characterized by slow tempos and relaxed moods. The definition of "chill-out music" has evolved throughout the decades, and generally refers to anything that might be identified as a modern type of easy listening. Some of the genres associated with "chill" include downtempo, classical, dance, jazz, hip hop, world, pop, lounge, and ambient.

"No More Pain (Promises To A Younger Self)" and "Move On (Let Go) (De-stress Mix)" are the album's slower moments, departing from Octo Octa's house sound for "pensive piano lilts" and Amen breaks, summarized Crack Magazine . [6] For "No More Pain," Bouldry-Morrison intended to make the same type of IDM and breakcore that she used to produce as a teenager. [6] Bouldry-Morrison made two versions of "Move On (Let Go)," the final one included on the album (the "De-stress Mix") and the "Stress Mix," which included a drum ’n’ bass-style bassline. [6]

Amen break

The Amen break is a drum break in the 1969 track "Amen, Brother" by the soul group the Winstons, the B-side of the Winstons' 1969 single "Color Him Father". The drum break lasts about seven seconds and was performed by Gregory Coleman.

Intelligent dance music is a style of electronic music originating in the early 1990s, regarded as "cerebral" and better suited to home listening than dancing. Emerging from electronic and rave music styles such as techno, acid house, ambient music, and breakbeat, IDM tended to rely upon individualistic experimentation rather than adhering to characteristics associated with specific genres. Prominent artists associated with the genre include Aphex Twin, μ-Ziq, the Black Dog, the Orb, the Future Sound of London, Autechre, Luke Vibert, Squarepusher, Venetian Snares and Boards of Canada.

Breakcore is a style of electronic dance music influenced by hardcore, jungle, digital hardcore and industrial music. It is characterized by the use of heavy kick drums, breaks and a wide palette of sampling sources, played at high tempos.

Cover art

The cover art for Where Are We Going is a photograph taken by Jeffrey McMahan in a San Francisco hotel bedroom [11] during a six-hour photoshoot session. [11] It depicts Bouldry-Morrison kneeling on a bed wearing a mini-dress with her hair being blown by a wind machine. [6] The aesthetic of the cover art differs heavily from those of her 100% Silk records, which used images of body parts and facial expressions of other people. [6] This is because she made her transgender identity an essential part of the album: "For a long time I never took pictures of myself because I didn’t like my body. It’s only been a couple of years now, especially since publicly transitioning, that I’ve finally felt OK with how I look." [11]

San Francisco Consolidated city-county in California, US

San Francisco, officially City and County of San Francisco and colloquially known as SF, San Fran, or "The City", is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, and the fourth-most populous in California, with 883,305 residents as of 2018. It covers an area of about 46.89 square miles (121.4 km2), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is the 12th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States, with 4,729,484 people in 2018. With San Jose, it forms the fifth-most populous combined statistical area in the United States, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Exclaim! 7/10 [1]
Pitchfork 7.6/10 [10]
Resident Advisor 4.1/5 [12]

Mixmag , listing the album as one of the top 50 best LPs of 2017 (see Accolades), honored it as "a superlative example of timeless dance music." [13] Writer Will Lynch claimed Where Are We Going? "reveals Bouldry-Morrison to be a mature and gifted producer." [12] He praised its "inspired" production and ability of using sounds to represent the producer's personal life, [12] something which was also spotlighted in a Pitchfork review of the album: "Bouldry-Morrison never feels bound to offer an answer, but through the vivid ambivalence of her music, you can sense a warming to new possibility." [10] Lynch's only criticism of the record was that it sounded a little too much like the works of DJ Sprinkles, a major influence of Bouldry-Morrison's music. [12]

Accolades

PublicationAccoladeRankRef.
Crack Magazine The Top 100 Albums of 2017
5
Mixmag The Top 50 Albums of 2017
22
Noisey The 100 Best Albums of 2017
74
Resident Advisor 2017's Best AlbumsN/A

Track listing

Where Are We Going? – Standard edition [17]
No.TitleLength
1."Where Are We Going? Pt. 1"7:31
2."On Your Lips"6:09
3."Fleeting Moments Of Freedom (Wooo)"6:24
4."Until The Moon Sets"5:03
5."No More Pain (Promises To A Younger Self)"2:36
6."Move On (Let Go) (De-Stress Mix)"5:11
7."Preparation Rituals"7:55
8."Adrift"8:47
9."Where Are We Going? Pt. 2"9:12
Total length:58:48
Where Are We Going? – EP version [18]
No.TitleLength
1."Move On (Let Go) (De-Stress Mix)"5:10
2."On Your Lips"6:11
3."Where Are We Going? Pt. 2"9:11
Total length:20:32

Release history

RegionDateFormat(s)Label
Worldwide – EP [19] March 10, 2017 Digital download HNYTRX [11]
Worldwide – LP [19] March 24, 2017

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Przybyslawski, Corinne (March 29, 2017). "Octo Octa Where Are We Going?". Exclaim! . Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  2. ↑ Bingham, Jaguar (February 17, 2017). "Octo Octa reveals new LP on Honey Soundsystem Records". Mixmag . Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Move on (Let Go) [De-stress Mix (Edit)] – Single by Octo Octa". iTunes Store. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Reynaldo, Shawn (February 3, 2016). "Octo Octa: Between two selves". Resident Advisor . Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Reynaldo, Shawn (March 23, 2017). "Octo Octa on Her New Album and Coming Out as Transgender". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kakaire, Christine. "Octo Octa: Move On, Let Go". Crack Magazine . Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Whitehead, Joanna (June 14, 2017). "An upbeat, upward trajectory". The F-Word. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  8. ↑ Kale, Sirin (May 19, 2017). "Octo Octa: Get to know the Brooklyn DJ". DJ Mag . Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  9. ↑ Gordon, Scott (July 10, 2017). "Octo Octa's newfound joy, with a catch". Tone Madison. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 Randle, Chris (March 25, 2017). "Octo Octa: Where Are We Going? Album Review". Pitchfork . Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Coldwell, Will (March 28, 2017). "DJ Octo Octa on coming out as transgender: 'Everyone was confused, then it was OK'". The Guardian . Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Lynch, Will (April 22, 2017). "Octo Octa – Where Are We Going?". Resident Advisor. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  13. 1 2 "The Top 50 Albums of 2017". Mixmag. December 14, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  14. ↑ "The Top 100 Albums of 2017". Crack Magazine. p. 2. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  15. ↑ "The 100 Best Albums of 2017". Noisey . December 6, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  16. ↑ "2017's Best Albums". Resident Advisor. December 22, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Where Are We Going? LP". Honey Soundsystem Official Bandcamp. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  18. ↑ "OCTO OCTA Where Are We Going? EP". Juno Records Official Website. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  19. 1 2 Rodriguez, Krystal (February 20, 2017). "Octo Octa Announces New Album, ‘Where Are We Going?'". Thump . Retrieved February 21, 2018.
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