Grounding Practice: DeForrest Brown, Jr.

DeForrest Brown, Jr. is an Alabama-raised, Ex-American rhythmanalyst, writer and was the representative of the 'Make Techno Black Again' campaign. As Speaker Music, he channels the African American modernist tradition of rhythm and soul music as an intellectual site and sound of techno-vernacular expression. He has released three albums on Planet Mu; 'Of Desire, Longing' (2019), 'Black Nationalist Sonic Weaponry' (2020), and 'Techxodus' (2023).

With a background writing for a decade in the music press, his written work explores the links between the Black experience in industrialized labor systems and Black innovation in electronic music, and has appeared in Artforum, Triple Canopy, NPR, CTM Festival, Mixmag, among many others. He has performed and presented work at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Paris+ par Art Basel, Paris; Camden Arts Centre, London; Unsound Festival, Krakow; Sónar, Barcelona; Roulette Intermedium, New York; and elsewhere. He has also taught courses on the history and new media uses of Afrofuturism in music at Parsons School of Design at New School and Princeton University. Brown's debut book 'Assembling a Black Counter Culture' was released on Primary Information in 2022.