(GEo)sonic and Musical textures

the sound recording and images below were taken during a house party for miss priss and the Black house kids at the underground wonder bar (downtown chicago). during the party, there was a moment when the music skipped so when you play the audio, listen to the ways the Black house kids respond with sound. the music is important, but we also encourage listeners to engage with the sonic imprints of the party to explore how Black chicagoans use and rely upon sound and what is audible to and for them within house parties in chicagoland. also, some of the images will appear blurry to reflect the thickness of the party through the sequence of movements, intense reverb, array of color from the strobe lights, flows of energy and sweat between the djs and dancers, and the Black chicagoness in the club, which was produced by the Black chicagoans in it. 

our goal was to document the essence of the party and activate your multiple senses as we invite you into a place many are not allowed to enter. have you ever wondered what an image sounds like or what were the background noises to a scene within a photograph? have you seen images of house parties in chicago and imagined what the people in the photograph were dancing to or what sounds they were producing as a response? why do the sounds of images centering Black people matter? we invite you to sit in these questions, hit play on the sound recordings, and scroll through the photographs to be still with, listen to, and hear the images and collective sonic and visual representations of the Black house kids in chicago. we hope that you will apply this same framework to the other sound recordings and images on this page that diagram the interplay between the sociosonic, music, and visual textures of Black chicagoland.  

the dj spinning is legendary dj and Black house kid duane e. powell.