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Picks Of The Week (31.10.20 - 06.11.20)

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1. Telomic - Window Light EP [Liquicity Records]

Recommended if you like: Edlan, Monrroe, Satl

Review's back, alright! (da dadadadada da dadadaaa)

Let's start this off slowly, with some soothing liquid. My first pick for this week comes from the amazingly versatile Telomic. Also known under his more general electronic music moniker and also real name Elliot Berger, he has continuously enriched our lives with the beautiful sonics of his production since 2014.

During my research I found so many articles about him talking about how he is an "artist to watch in 2019" that I lost count. It's not that I don't agree, his 2019 was great, but if all those articles knew just how amazing his 2020 would be, they would have quickly re-edited that to "artist to watch forever and ever". From the impressive Gravity Within EP, whose title track has been in my top 5 tracks from 2020 since its release, to Need Nothing, his contribution to the massive Galacy Compilation earlier this year, to his blissful remix of Empaths - Hope (Rise Up) to his latest Liquicity masterpieces Late Depth and Not Thinking Straight with V O E, it has been an absolute pleasure to follow his releases this year. He proved again and again how well he works with vocalists and just how well he can craft an amazing production around it. Man, I love Telomic.

And of course, this newest Window Light EP, his biggest project to date, is another entry in the long list "amazing releases by Telomic" list. The EP starts off with the titular Window Light, with a breathtaking vocal by Anastia, and I'm already melting away. When the first You let the light in came in, I just had to add the track to my list of "songs to listen to when I'm feeling emotional" right there. All of it is just so beautiful. But that word doesn't even begin to convey the feels of it all. Instant favorite right there. Also, please watch the music video, it's incredible.

On this EP Elliot seems to have opted in for a vocal-instrumental back and forth pattern, which means it's time for an instrumental now. On Late Depth, the first single of this EP, he shows off his talent for laid-back liquid. Even though the drums are rolling through fast as fuck, he manages to create a silky smooth atmosphere anyway through his masterful use of super low bass melodies and a vocal sample that is just lovely. Speaking of vocals, let's talk about Dayfall, the second single of the EP. This time featuring the wonderful Emily Makis, who is experiencing a well-earned huge amount of attention lately, with hugely supported features on productions by Monrroe, Deadline, Mollie Collins and Kanine. As usual, she smashed her vocals on Dayfall. As usual, Telomic masterfully took her performance and wrapped it into a perfect liquid anthem. Prepare to be blown away.

Aaand back to instrumentals. Withdrawn is a piano-driven think-break-heavy vibe and a half. Makes me feel kinda nostalgic for some reason. That leads in to the last vocal track of the project, Night Sun. Featuring the lovely up-and-comer Sydney on the vocals, this track both completes the trilogy of great vocal-heavy tracks on this EP and smoothly continues on the vibe from Withdrawn without skipping a beat. Last but not least, Telomic shows off his deeper reportoire on Limited. But just because it's deep doesn't mean it's not still also a vibe. The whole thing just flows together super well.

If you for some reason don't like vocals (shame on you!), there's also instrumental versions of all tracks available on the release.

All in all, stunning.

P.S: Check out his set from the Liquicitizen community event from last Saturday, vibes all the way through.

Other great liquid releases:

  • Fluidity - Still Hope
  • Subdue - Dusk EP
  • DRS - Space Cadet EP II
  • Winslow - A Man & His Kettle (best artwork this week)
  • Keeno - Severn Summers
  • Sublimit, Phadix, Sammie Hall - Together In Sound EP

I'll just lump in the dancefloor stuff here too, because I don't know where else to put it:

  • Rex Hooligan - All Right
  • Mazare, Monika Santucci - That's On You
  • Rebel Scum, Agassi - Sublime
  • Bare Up - Let You Go
  • Futurebound - Dangerous
  • Killer Hertz - Waiting For You
  • Luca Rezza - No More Tears

2. Various Artists - Variation In Production EP [Eatbrain]

Recommended if you like: Zombie Cats, Jade, Redpill

Time for something different. A Variation, so to speak.

That's exactly what Jade, Eatbrain's chief executive officer and founder, thought too! That's why he contacted a wide array of Eatbrain-associated producers to give some of their most well-known tracks on the label the VIP treatment. And you are invited!

Welcome, to the Eatbrain VIP zone. Only the most important people are allowed past this barrier. And us, for some reason. But hey, we are here now, so let's let the servant take us on a tour. To the left we have Aggressor Bunx offering us a new and even more hard-hitting version of The Offering, one of their bangers off their 2017 Eatbrain LP. As you'll soon see, that's not the only new and exclusive thing around here though. If you want to quickly POW-der your nose, VIP-style, the spanish duo Dub Elements has your back. But be warned, this one packs a more pow-erful punch than the usual ones you might be used to in your non-VIP zones.

It's not just Party Every Day in here though, you can just hang out and watch TV if you want. Even if it is raining blood outside, you will have the VIP TV Saying there's nothing to worry about. Eatbrain chief Jade himself made sure of that. His VIP treatment of his 2018 instant classic homage to the Rick And Morty Christmas episode will make you want to jump all over the place. Pure madness. Speaking of pure madness, in case it gets too messy, we also got our own VIP-Mafia in here to keep things in check, thanks to the work of Bulgarian beatsmith L 33. Fair warning though: they might cause even more madness than there was before.

We've also got MNDSCP, who sadly lost all his vowels in a terrible accident a year ago (on the bright side: he also gained some uppercase letters!), taking care of any Vertigo-related issues that may arise from all the jumping around. If the reason for your dizziness isn't Vertigo, but hunger, then you can also stick around for the VIP of Lunch Time, provided by french gourmet chef Redpill. Just like regular Lunch Time, this one promises to deliver the crunchiest munchies you have ever experienced, with a pinch of half-time flavor towards the end to round up the taste. Your hunger for tunage will not be left unsatisfied.

There are two more things to see in the VIP zone. First, we got a special petting zoo, one that has just one animal: the Roly-Poly. As you might have guessed, this Roly-Poly isn't just any Roly-Poly, nono, VIPs don't just go pet normal Roly-Poly's (It's so fun to say). For this very special occasion the resident Armadillidiidae expert Smooth whipped up an equally special VIP version of the animal, as you might have heard in one of his livestreams. With more glamour, more oomph and especially more horns. The long sought-after VIP has finally arrived. Need more VIPs? Good thing we still have one more to go! For the last but absolutely not least special treatment we got the one and only resident undead felines, the Zombie Cats, to conjure us one last trick. From even more banging neurofunk to 174bpm four-by-four beats to even a half-time version of the original, it's all in there, neatly packaged in the 4 minute runtime. They really managed to cater to all my Needs here!

All in all, a quality release by Eatbrain as always!

P.S: In case the text wasn't clear enough (can't possibly imagine that, but let's be safe), my favorites were the Need and TV Says VIPs.

Other great neurofunk releases:

  • Dextems - Head Crusher EP
  • Buunshin - No Match
  • Various Artists - Sonic Codes Vol. 01

3. Various Artists - Evolutions Vol. 9 [Blackout Music]

Recommended if you like: Synergy, IMANU, MISSIN

Guess it's a "big label releases" kinda week, huh?

Even though not everyone agrees with me on this (yes I'm looking at you, r/dnb discord), I still like compilations. Especially those focused on emerging talent. It's fun to discover new talent and even if you already know them, it's nice to see them getting the spotlight on one of the bigger labels. Or just having more music by them in general. The Evolutions series on Blackout is a great example of the kind of compilations I love.

For one, they're always high quality neuro/techy stuff and I can't say no to that, can I? For two (is that how this phrase works?), they always seem to feature some of my favorite artists around. And for this ninth installment they pulled all the strings!

Well, for me at least. The EP starts off with newcomer Rillium's first actual released track Mind Trap. Supported by the likes of IMANU and Black Sun Empire (well, duh), this one didn't come completely out of nowhere though. Well, let's say nearly out of nowhere. He very successfully participated in IMANU's Patreon remix competition, but other than that, this is pretty much his debut. Very techy, very big sounding and most of all: it has vocal chop ups!

Next up, we got a new track from one of my top 5 favorite newcomers: Freshney! After his massive Bloom EP on Surveillance Music (more on that later), a great release on SIN.FULL MAZE with Slwdwn and the incredible Midsommar as Circumference (his collab project with Kit Jones), I can confidently say that he is my favorite newcomer artist of this year. And he didn't stop there, he now released another track on this very compilation called Tucked Away. As is customary on Freshney tracks, this isn't just your "standard" super techy track, it is also cinematic as hell. I'd even call it beautiful, in a way. Beautiful destruction maybe. Because that drop bangs. Hard.

One very talented example of the new "techy" sound of dnb is Disprove. As he as proven, not disproven hehehe, on countless releases on labels like Surveillance Music (there it is again), MethLab Recordings or DIVIDID, the Berlin-based producer is a force to be reckoned with. For his contribution to this EP, Rotary, he shows us what his sound is all about. For this occasion he even delves into a bit of 4x4 here and there during the breakdown!

This is followed up by a russian super-collab between the Psynchro newcomer trio and even newer newcomer Ridley Dynamics. On Universe they join the others in their quest for the most massive techy track, but instead of a lot of drums and forward-moving parts, they opted for a more minimalistic structure. The largest of the large synths fill the room before an equally large but way more aggressive synth destroys everything around it. Reminds me a bit of Zombie Cats - Did You Know, but maybe that's just the Zombie Cats fanboi in me talking. In any case, massive tune!

Last but not least this EP also features one more "traditional" neuro track: Ascendancy by TR Tactics and Transforma. Traditional doesn't mean boring though, with this collab they smashed out a banger that is sure to cause earthquakes all around the globe.

Big release!

Other great techy/deep releases:

  • Disrupta - Allow It / The Trip
  • Chords - Arrhythmia EP
  • Dabs - Wormatic Remixes EP
  • Various Artists - Folio / 3 [1985 Music]

4. Jon Tho - Sundials EP [Surveillance Music]

Recommended if you like: Freshney, Proxima, Redpill

Good heavens, would you look at the time! It's Hidden Gem of The Week o'clock already!

This week I chose Jon Tho's debut EP, the Sundials EP and I couldn't be more hyped about it. Hyped, because with this week's pick I finally get a chance to talk about a one of the most underrated labels out there: Surveillance Music! Because it's founder, Jon Tho, released said Sundials EP on it!

Even though it was founded just last year by Jon, it has already seen some very high quality releases from artists like Vowel, NickBee, Disprove, Freshney and Audio. The label based in Porto has a very specific sound to it that can best be compared with the likes of DIVIDID or NËU Music: the very fast, techy sound of dnb. One of their guiding philosophies seems to be quality over quantity, because while there are not a lot of Surveillance tracks out there yet, all of them are sick.

In fact, you might actually know Jon Tho under a different name: Fragz. He decided to rebrand under Jon Tho, because he wanted to move away from his former neuro-heavy sound to the kind of music he has been releasing on this label.

If you are a fan of dark vibes, weird snappy snares, 4x4 rhythms and fast drums, you will love this EP. It's hard to even pick out favorites here, because they're all on a similar level of quality, which is very high. If I had to choose it would be No More though, because I just really like those fast rhythms in the drop.

Awesome release on an awesome label!

Hidden Gems:

  • Various Artists - Sonic Codes Vol. 1 [0101 Music]
  • Dextems - Head Crusher EP [Neuropunk Records]
  • Sander Boelders - Into The Night [C Recordings]
  • ASHFLO - Broken // Wave [Patrol The Skies Music]
  • Various Artists - Programmed, Vol.5 [ProgRAM]
  • Vektral - Lookin Back // Jungle Trail [Grand Theft Audio Recordings]