Picks Of The Week (27.06.20

1. The Prototypes - Enter The Warrior [The Prototypes]

Recommended if you like: Tantrum Desire, Mind Vortex, Metrik

LEAN BACK. HOLD BACK. DROP BACK. DANCE.

These vocals. That intro that gets me hyped every single time. The addicting melody and all the little variations in the drop. You guessed right, The Prototypes are back in town.

If you watched any of their live appearances in the last year or so, you might recognize this one. Be it Let It Roll, their 24h Livestream or one of their many gigs in a little town near me, Enter The Warrior has been a staple in their sets for a while. It is part of their forthcoming second album Ten Thousand Feed And Rising, which was originally scheduled to come out during May, but got pushed back to later this year, for obvious reasons. My album delivery status says October, but I feel like that's not the best source ever, so lets just go with "soon". There's some good news too though. The Brightonian duo intend to beef up the album and release a single roughly every month until release. I wish I knew more than that, but I trust them to not disappoint.

Back to the tune. For this third album single they recruited newcomer vocalist B3NDU for a vocal that is second to none. Her vocal performance is just perfect. But it doesn't end there. The Prototypes managed to integrate this great vocal perfectly, from the slow buildup (they've always been amazing at those) putting the first verse on the center stage to the absolutely hype way they built the vocals into the after-drop and breakdown. And did I mention how catchy that drop is?? ...Oh I did? I guess it's worth repeating though. This album is looking better with every release. I can't wait to see what else they have in store for us.

2. Droptek - Symbiosis Remixed Part 1 [Korsakov Music]

Recommended if you like: Unique Hard-Hitting Dnb, Joe Ford, DC Breaks, The Outsiders

You know what album isn't talked about enough? Droptek's debut album Symbiosis. It combined all kinds of different sounds and tempos into one big sonic adventure ride and showed the world that Droptek is one of the producers to watch. I especially enjoyed the more melodic tunes like Sentient and Illusions, their style just reminded me a lot of Memtrix or Joe Ford.

I was probably not the only one who thought that. Because guess who is the first on the list of producers Droptek enlisted for part one of the Symbiosis remix album. No, not Memtrix. Joe Ford! There's still at least one more part to come, so Memtrix is not completely out of the question, but given his recent lack of releases, I'm not super optimistic. Droptek did manage to get an impressive amount of big names to do remixes though.

While Joe Ford went back to his Where is the Sun sound on the Sentient remix, InsideInfo put his signature weirdly catchy and attention-grabbing style to good use in his Minutiae remix. Audio delivers the only non-dnb remix of the bunch on Comply, Skantia is shifting into a more-melodic-and-mellow-than-usual gear on Extrapolate and Gydra pumps up the danceability of the atmospheric Devoid in a way that is noticeably Gydra-esque. The Outsiders, one of the best newcomers in recent years, give us a techy reimagining of the half-timey Invoke, spanish duo Dub Elements turn Revolver into one of the more massive foghorns of this year, while Madster shows off his diversity by effortlessly switching between a 4x4 dnb techno type tempo and halftime on his Bloodline remix. Finally, Smooth and DC Breaks finish it off with their dancefloor spin on Comply.

Let's hope the sequel keeps this quality up!

3. Various Artists - Overview Part. 1 Remixed [Overview Music]

Recommended if you like: Bredren, Synth Ethics, Ill Truth

You want more remixes? Overview Music has got you covered!

Overview is one of the best underground labels for deep drum and bass the scene has to offer. You might recognize the label founder from his days at the now-defunct Lifestyle Music, a connection that becomes obvious when you compare the releases on both labels. With all around amazing releases from Sustance, Nectax, Nausika, Ill Truth, Wingz, Waeys and gyrofield, 2020 has been an incredibe year for them. Especially the last one is a definitive highlight of the year for me.

Two years after their debut VA release Overview Part. 1, I'm still not quite sure why there is a dot in that name. But once thing's for sure. The dot returns for the remix album of said debut release. And they pulled out some big names for this. Ill Truth, the winner of this years Rebel Music's Dub Wars competition, kick the remix EP off with a seriously heavy remix of Save Me. Shogun rock stars Koherent bombard us with 16th notes on their Strained remix. Rizzle follows that up with a slowly creeping and eventually all-encompassing wall of sound that is his remix of Blue Circle. Finally we have two remixes of Fin Absolue by 1985's Cesco, who once again produces sounds I'm not sure my headphones are capable of reproducing, and a half-time remix by newcomer Bidl.

This week kind of feels like a remix week for me. Aside from the ones mentioned above, we also had:

Empaths - Hope (Rise Up) (Telomic Remix)
Charlotte Haining - Daydreamer (LSB Remix)
The Fragmented EP on Differential
Deuce & Charger - Never Out Of Sight (Kritix Remix)
Askel - Portmanteau (Physics Remix)
Seven Lions - What's Done Is Done (Delta Heavy Remix)
Marcus Visionary - Real Warrior Remixes EP
BTK - 40 Channels of Funk Remix EP
The Remix Vol 3 on Grid Recordings

4. Madusea - Stupid / Qualm [Calibrate Records]

Recommended if you like: Wingz, Skylark, Black Barrel

If you enjoyed the Overview remixes, you might also enjoy this week's Lucky Find Of The Week™.

Brought to you by Montrealian newcomer Madusea, a Default Recordings veteran, on Calibrate Records, the deeper sister label of Bay 6 Recordings, which you might know from last month's Back To Bay 6 Vol. 2 compilation. Phew, so many names. Of which I only knew the last one, at least until last Friday. After having experienced the lovely strangness of this double single, I'll surely be checking out the rest the label has to offer. If you like deep dnb, you are in for a treat.

I wish I could remember how I found this excellent release, but I'm sure glad I did.

Other Hidden Gems:

Kin:etic - Vastu [Incurzion Audio]
Wake&Bake - WHAT U GOT EP [Histeria Records]
Drytek - Machines EP [Rawdio Recordings]