First Floor Volume 1: Reflections on Electronic Music Culture

by Shawn Reynaldo

First Floor started small. At first it was just a newsletter, an outlet where veteran electronic music journalist Shawn Reynaldo could write and share his ideas without having to contend with outside editors or cater to social media algorithms. It was a blank canvas, and Reynaldo began to fill it with his extended thoughts on not just electronic music itself but the culture and industry that surrounded it. His first few missives went out to only a handful of people, but as the months went by and his writings increasingly became a focal point of discussions within the wider electronic music world, Reynaldo came to a surprising people were actually reading this thing.

Just a few years later, First Floor now stands as one of electronic music’s most influential platforms, particularly as Reynaldo continues to put many of the genre’s thorniest issues under the microscope. First Floor Volume 1 collects his most thought-provoking pieces and provides a nuanced, wide-ranging look at contemporary electronic music culture as it comes to grips with systemic challenges and a time of profound transformation. Whether he’s taking a hard look at the genre’s futurist ethos, questioning the practices of the modern music press or mapping out what motivates dance music’s newest generation, Reynaldo applies an undeniably critical lens, but his words are informed by decades of experience, a genuine passion for the subject matter and an open-minded outlook toward whatever changes lie ahead.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2023

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it hard giving this book a star rating out of 5.

Why did you then?

I suppose the inner perfectionist in me simply must, must, MUST! show some appreciation for a collection of essays that genuinely informed and interested me.

I agree with almost all of Shawn's opinions on the current state of electronic music and the wider spectrum of the culture, in which he touches upon frequently.

The arguments made regarding the morals surrounding musical streaming platforms were also very insightful whilst enjoyable as its a subject I've been troubling myself with for some time now also.

5 stars seems the appropriate rating for opinion pieces, especially ones with which I agree.

Well worth a read for the avid electronic music fan.

[Jeferson Pulz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writer seems to know what he’s talking about and is passionate about it. I just found it over repetitive and moralistic. He has a pattern of wrting that he seems not aware, which he starts criticizing something or someone (usually with good points) , then give reasons for both sides, kind of make peaces with them, finishes with an, “it’s bad but maybe theres something good in that”. Also, he always mentions about older generation of electronic music fans, as if they just complain of things these days. Even though he seems to agree with them, later he says, maybe, it’s better now.

I feel if you are being a critic, be it. Don’t try to mend it.

[neek · Rating 3 out of 5]

picked this up and put this down a lot. I think Shawn's a good journalist who has good ideas on where to dig into, but I think a lot of this essays didn't really need to be published in the book format, and that publishing them (even with the consideration of them as a collection of essays) side by side like this kind of highlights some of the circular nature of the writing. a lot of the articles brought up good topics and had good analysis but kind of fizzled out into a "maybe x will happen maybe y, who knows?" its good that Shawn doesn't try to predict the future with certainty, but his fence-sitting takes away the sting of his writing.

that all being said I still enjoyed the articles and a good number of them were really strong & thoughtprovoking and I think Shawn does a good job of staying relatively optimistic in a pretty dark time for electronic music. The last couple sentences summarize his attitude pretty well: "Dance music has always been impermanent and the anguish around its most recent metamorphosis is primarily driven by sentimentality, not logic. I'm certainly guilty of the former from time to time, but I do my best to be guided by the latter."

so in conclusion, I'm glad Shawn's writing is compiled into a book, but I would much prefer to read a book of new material by him rather than a volume 2 of his newsletter compilation.

[Tele_well · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars. Converting a substack newsletter into a book is a hard task, this one has worked out, partly. Put together, these short essays form as a timestamp of the post-covid era, from a viewpoint of someone who is deeply involved in the music journalism and (broken) music business. Streaming, poptimism, DJing and partying after covid are some of the topics covered. The recurrinng topics and (sometimes) too plain language writing, reliance on ephemeral topics and sources (Twitter) will make it probably date quite fast, but that is yet to be seen, i’ll get back to it in a few years.

[Morgan Lupton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read covering interesting takes on modern electronic music culture.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that the content is essentially a compilation of First Floor essays. If you’re already a subscriber, it’s likely content you’ve seen before; that being said it’s still worth revisiting.

[Tasneem Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for my thesis. Don’t agree with every single take here but it’s without a doubt the most well-constructed and cogent critique of electronic music and the surrounding culture that I’ve ever come across. Grateful this work exists 🙌🏽

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of articles on how electronic music has changed in recent years

[Aidan · Rating 4 out of 5]

great collection of essays. favourites: 'The Monetization of Apathy', 'The Scene Isn't Worth Saving', 'Down with Techno', amongst many others

[lille rev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denne likte jeg veldig godt. Hovedtematikken dreier seg rundt det at musikk-kulturen er i endring. Forfatteren får ta på seg en rolle som eldre og forståelsesfullt grinete. Sjukt mye nice innblikk i kulturen rundt elektronisk musikk. Bra innblikk, men ikke en dyptgående analyse.

Skillelinja mellom undergrunn og mainstream har blitt mer tåkete med åra, etterhvert som internett skjedde med musikk. Og han proklamerer på en måte undergrunnen for død. Jeg synes han er litt for rask på avtrekkeren der.