Rebūke Rejects the Status Quo With His New Album World of Era

It's challenging to tell where the trade winds have taken commercial techno in recent times. It’s coming from various directions: to the east, there’s the nauseatingly fast electronic dance techno of Sara Landry and Amelie Lens; to the west, there’s the slow, deep burns of Keinemusik.

It appears, however, that the melodic techno's hegemony is the hottest sound. In fact, DJs like Lens and the Keinemusik trio can incorporate melodic noise with minimal effort into their own sets. Two titans of electronic music stand out: Tale of Us, who brought melodic techno to the mainstream, and Adam Beyer, whose Swedish label from the ‘90s, Drumcode, transitioned from techno to sweet melodies and synths over the last three decades.

Ireland's Reuben Kinney, the DJ and producer by the alias Rebūke, has seen these seismic changes and believes that techno is in another one of its perpetual cycles.

"I had a moment in 2021 where I had to decide if I wanted to go very fast or very slow — and I chose slow," Kinney tells New Times from his studio, on the foothills of his August 29 show at Club Space and having just released his new album, World of Era, on August 1. “The pace of where the scene was heading,” that is, swinging-from-the-rafters-fast techno, “was just not my thing. I have always been more for the groove — even if it was darker, 2018 Drumcode stuff.”

Kinney grew up in the cathedral town of Letterkenny, Ireland. The town wasn’t a dance music capital, but electronic music travels far, and he found his penchant for the groove with the help of local record store employees and his father, a DJ.

Like most music-obsessed youths in the pre-algorithm epoch, Kinney, 32, went to school and then to Universal Record Store. He woke up on weekends and went to the record store. He would go to university, and then the record store. He later dropped out to pursue music.

"There was a resident DJ who worked at the store, Tony Waters, and he would send me vinyls, and that's sort of where I learned about different shades of dance music. It was a good time, a pure time — that area of discovery is something I wish I could go back to."

According to his Beatportal interview, he began producing music in his early teens and held his first gig at "a school disco." He eventually graduated to clubs in Ireland, including Outhouse, where he spun and booked talent. The track that took Kinney outside of the Republic was his 2018 powerhouse, “Along Came Polly,” off Jamie Jones’ Hot Creations record label.

His talent eventually caught Adam Beyer’s attention, leading to his signing with Drumcode and Beyer’s tech-house sister label, True Soul. Over the years, he released numerous EPs and singles, showcasing his signature groove.

The years have made Kinney a globetrotter and established a solid foundation for his techno and tech-house fixtures. He experienced growth through positive and negative reviews and developed the fortitude to not be pigeonhole-ized. Recently, he “fell back in love with my early influences like Eric Prydz, and started to get more melodic,” which was the impetus for his new album.

Look no further than the self-titled, minute-long intro. Synths play a hymn-like tune, like a dystopian anthem. A deep ambient melody gradually fades away in the middle, and then a voice distorts before the synths let out one more howl, and the track abruptly ends.

"It's a concept album where I wanted to do something that still connects with dancefloors, but I've gone from years making music for DJs, and I wanted to make some music that translates to listening in the car or radio — music that elevates past the nightclub. And I think melodies and melodic music can do that," he shares.

Beyond its melodic synths and trance-inspired odes, World of Eras ventured outside Kinney’s comfort zone by featuring fifteen tracks with eleven different collaborators and incorporating vocals. A tech-house track can eschew the need for collaborative vocal sessions and still be a timeless piece where euphoria and bass never die.
Kinney, however, wanted to explore the human element by adding something tranquil and fun enough that you could sing along to. "Up until 2022, I never put out a vocal record before, and that was something people would say. This is the complete opposite — trying new things and working with people I would not have worked with."

Indeed, the second track, "Ignite," featuring Au/Ra splits between club-ready bass and emotive vocals following a typical song structure. "Lost in the darkness/you turn it upside down/that’s how it started/no there’s no going back".

"Choose Life," which boasts an expletive, is a clear homage to Adam Feeland’s 2003 breaks track “We Want Your Soul,” detailing the quotidian of everyday living, accompanied by an acid techno sound.

Kinney certainly has some help from friends. He collaborated with Deadmau5 for the album's most emotional track, “Endless,” featuring Ed Graves. The four-minute tune makes up for its short length with melodic waves crashing down on you at 0:03. “Feeling emotions, feels like an ocean, I’m lost in machine.”

You can feel Deadmau5’s hands on the pads and infuse raw feeling into a genre criticized for a lack of emotion. Synths bounce off the four corners of the track with evolving pads and gentle melodic shifts. A single bark from an acid note sends the guillotine down, and you’re now in the thick of it — constantly transporting between reveries and a cramped dancefloor.

"Like many people, Deadmau5 was an inspiration to my music career. It was always a real goal to collaborate with him or just work with him in some form. Back in 2017, I sent him a track on his live section on Twitch and played it and really like it, and it blew my mind. So when I had the chance to work with him on a record, it was great. It went smoothly; I wanted it to be a record that we can each play," shares Kinney.

Deadmau5 sent him some chords, and they exchanged ideas easily. The plan was to release "Endless" as an instrumental, which the two amended at the last second to include Graves.

"He [Graves] was in the studio, and I told him, ‘I thought the track could be really good with a vocal. Could you send me something in twelve hours?’ I fully expected him to say no, but he sent me the vocals in six hours.”

Kinney’s short tenure has already seen him perform at iconic venues like Club Space and the Las Vegas Sphere. He takes the album on tour in September. Moreover, his career made him face the challenge between staying comfortable or taking the leap.

If we are in a world of eras, Kinney can only keep evolving. “Everyday to me is an exciting day. The scene, for good or bad, is turbulent. There’s always something to do."

Rebūke. With Eli Brown, Max Stern, Differ, Daizy. 11 p.m. Friday, August 29, at Club Space, 134 NE 11th St., Miami; 786-616-6742; clubspace.com. Tickets start at $10 via dice.fm.