PREMIERE | Vonica x Hot Chip, "If You're New Here Dance"

Bringing the new big, rhythmic & righteous beats with Vonica; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Although the international outlook on the world we inhabit is an altogether mixed bag (to say the very least), we still have dance music. The ever flowing evolution of the beat connects us all, no matter where on the globe we may be. From the repetitions and rumbles heard out in the bustling atmospheres of our busy day to day, to the body moving vibrations emitted from our speakers that strike the inner core of our nervous systems; the rhythms never cease from the relentless sequences of their progressions. And though at times we might discover a certain lull, like the bridge that connects chorus to verse and vice versa; the percussive pronouncements remain a constant persistent motif in the grand aesthetic ensemble of elements that remind us that we are fully alive, awake and present in the moment.

Keeping the beat alive for all of us yearning for creative kinetic energy is London's own Vonica, who has been readying the If You're New Here Dance EP for release May 13. A moniker derived from a portmanteau of famed director Michelangelo Antonioni and the recently departed actress Monica Vitti; Vonica's latest solo endeavor follows up their 2018 debut Sol De Nit with new crafty cuts for all of tomorrow's and today's cool clubs (and stylish boutiques). Presenting the debut of the self-made glitchy visuals for the title track remixed by none other than Hot Chip's drum maestro Felix Martin, the future fancy of the original takes a subterranean detour to a European discotheque specializing in only the most choice progressive house gems.

The original chops up all the big Ibiza movements into stems that burst within the stuttered percussive measures. The rhythm methodically rolls, gradually emerging jaggedly into a cohesion conjoined by vocals that are cut edited into sharp punchy points of arrangement. “If You’re New Here Dance” ultimately unifies every major dance movement of recent decades, generating a new freakbeat simpatico synthesis that binds the epic trance rave heads together with the death disco dilettantes.

The Hot Chip remix is a whole other animal. The very timbre of the production struts like artists and enthusiasts returning to a re-imagined Hacienda. Felix follows in the steps of Carl Cox, amplifying the track to elicit high stepping drum patterns and re-innovated formations of musical movements that arpeggiate according to their own organized ascension. Martin’s take on “Dance” develops/re-envisions the track into new sections of discrete and vast dancefloors, in a welcoming of everyone from the self-assured fancy shoe sorts to the introverted wallflower would-be belles of the ball. Vonica's video provides a collection of dance move sequences captured at different speeds, shown in different filters and other effects that groove and glitch to the mood and method of the rhythm. Felix and Vonica unite the contemporary creative digital playlist obsessed of the post-streaming generation with a devout reverence for the old school home brewed CDR and mp3 dance mix bootleg. “If You’re New Here Dance” is ultimately a love note to the esteemed persistence of the ballroom beat, mixing together the influential eras of past decades into a blender.

Between the blur and the beat - Vonica; press photo courtesy of the artist.

Vonica shared some insights on the new track “If You’re New Here Dance” and the Hot Chip re-working:

The tune:

I remember listening a lot to the Ed Banger Records catalogue at the time so that probably slipped into the track somehow. The idea was to blend fresh and minimal synth parts and heavily effected vocals with a pop sensibility.

The collaboration:

I met Felix from Hot Chip after a show of mine in London and having been a Hot Chip fan forever it was a big deal for me. Later on I managed to send him the tune and asked if he'd be up for a remix. When he sent me back the track I loved it so much I had to include it on the EP.

The video:

I found some online footage of people dancing in different scenarios and used a glitch app on my phone to distort and edit the images with pace and emotion. The aim was to portray dancing as a liberating expression of freedom and humanity. I have little to none video-making skills but it just felt right for the tune.

Vonica's If You’re New Here Dance will be available May 13.