Acid Ronni

A View on People, Places & Things - »Acid 03«

Profet´s Ronni Arturo takes a toke off of acid house culture as the genre has re-entered the blood stream of the world with »Acid 03«, the debut single from People Places & Things that is featured in a new Adidas campaign.

»Acid 03« is a multi-faceted homage to the founders of a genre. The tormented electronic swirls of a dance floor induced with ecstasy and hormones are squeezed into the 21st century with the help of People, Places & Things. I myself am extremely fond of any upper, and I can only imagine dancing myself sweaty in the Hacienda in the late 80’s to a track like »Acid 03«, blasted out of my mind on whatever Shaun Ryder was on at the time. Unfortunately, I missed the heyday of energizing drugs, acid house and wearing baggy pastel T-shirts under Adidas jackets. I was too young, and too far away from the action to ever have taken part of it. Today, I feel like I’m almost reliving what I haven’t experienced. »Acid 03« lives up to any expectation, and makes you desperately want to crush a pill in a bathroom stall. Its quirky squeals blow a kiss all the way back to its origin, Phutures eternal classic »Acid Tracks«, and keeps its feet on the ground and its head in the clouds. Though commemorating the past of the genre, »Acid 03« doesn’t feel outdated. It rather gives acid house a spot in the present moment, re-actualizing the music. Kids still enjoy popping the occasional tablet, and why shouldn’t they do it to the tunes of People, Places & Things? Sure, the trip starts off in the handing over of a small plastic bag through a handshake, but transcends to the darker side of the high throughout the song. What initially is a care-free buzz turns to petrifying paranoia as »Acid 03« turns more industrial and the substances really start doing their thing.

People, Places and Things’ debut track has been connected to an ad for Adidas’ new collection SPEZIAL. In a video commercial for the collection, narrated by pill pillager Bez from Happy Mondays, »Acid 03« accompanies images of Ibiza beaches, sunsets and young models who look way to sober to be believable as acid house devotees. Bez’s philosophizing over »Acid 03« is a perfect match, but I am a bit disappointed in the collection itself. I would like to have seen designs aesthetically suitable for people with extraordinarily high resistance to amphetamines, people who don’t sleep or eat for 48 hours and still have the biggest smile on their lips. What I like about Adidas is their compatibility with something that feels dangerous and exciting, where the iconic stripes are almost used as a gang sign. The collection shown here is aimed more towards the modern young consumer, who doesn’t get clothes dirty during a trip to a party island. This target audience is possibly the future care-takers of the acid house heritage, and maybe the next Summer of Love will be this year, 30 years after the last peak of the acid genre. If the innocent youngling modeling the Adidas SPEZIAL campaign is the archetype of the hope of acid house, I am worried about the music’s future. So, kids, do some more drugs and dress like Bez, and it’ll all be fine.

March 13 2018