Recording
Percolator
Cajmere
Independently chosen for2 of our lists. Here is what each of them said.
- Released
- 1992
- Label
- Cajual
- On
- Juke and Footwork and The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
- Updated
- 2026-08-29
Analysis
7 sections, the first drop of 2 at 1:02, 34% of the way in.
- Dynamic range
- 5 dB
- moderate range, typical of a modern master
- Phrase
- 8 bars
- the length the arrangement is built on
- Length
- 3:05
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Apeak0
- 0:39Bbreakdownbar 21*
- 1:03Asteadybar 32*
- 1:49Cbreakdownbar 56*
- 2:05Apeakbar 64*
- 2:35Apeakbar 80*
- 2:51Aoutrobar 88*
Drops at 1:02 (bar 32), 2:04 (bar 64). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
* starts between phrase lines rather than on one.
0:00 · A · peak
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 5 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:39
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 28
- Density
- 93
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:23
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 42
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental · one of 5 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:47
- Energy
- 66
- Brightness
- 3
- Density
- 54
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · sung
- Lasts
- 0:16
- Energy
- 13
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 5 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:30
- Energy
- 95
- Brightness
- 45
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 5 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:16
- Energy
- 97
- Brightness
- 8
- Density
- 52
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
the closing fall · instrumental · one of 5 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:14
- Energy
- 29
- Brightness
- 42
- Density
- 80
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- outro
- the closing fall
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in Juke and Footwork
One bleeping figure, endlessly repeated, that became a genre's shared vocabulary. Thirty years of Chicago records quote it, and a whole category of track is still named after it.
Picked by The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
One bleeping figure repeated until it became a city's shared vocabulary. Thirty years of Chicago records quote it and a whole category is named after it.