Picks Of The Week (26.12.20

1. Polygon - Coming Home [Liquicity Records]

Recommended if you like: Andromedik, Lexurus, Feint

First releases of the new year, whoop whoop!

And what better way to forget 2020 and start off a new, hopefully more rave-filled adventure of a year than with my one of my absolute favorite dancefloor duos: Polygon!

If you don't know who I'm talking about... You are in for quite a ride. Polygon are an Amsterdam-based dnb duo whose main mantra since their inception in 2016 has been "melodic aggression", two words that wonderfully describe ~70% of my music taste. Before they joined forces the two were known as daPlaque, a producer mostly focused on Dubstep, and Volture, a drum and bass DJ. It was at daPlaque's first ever gig that he met his partner in crime, who was also booked for the night. The vibes were instantly there and after meeting again at yet another event at which they were both booked they decided to work together. They brought their different approaches to electronic music together to one uniquely distinctive sound. A sound with multiple faces, so to speak. Like a Polygon has multiple faces. You get it. That wasn't even one of my usual attempts at humour, that is actually the story behind the name!

Their first ever released track was a remix of Dub FX - Fake Paradise and if you're familiar with Polygon's sound, you will instantly recognize it as one of their own. It was still way rougher around the edges of course, but the foundations were still there. Back then the duo used to send their tracks to Justin Hawkes', once known as Flite, production feedback streams. Mr Hawkes liked one of their tracks, their remix of Itro - Light And Blue, so much that he just sent it over to Liquicity who ended up featuring it on their channel. After a bit of a writer's block following this early big success, they came back stronger than ever in 2018. In fact, over the course of their numerous releases on Viper, Korsakov and of course Liquicity, they have showed zero signs of slowing down and have only gotten better with each release.

That trajectory is especially apparent with their newest release: Coming Home. Teased for the first time (that I know of) at the end of their incredible Liquicity Festival 2019 set (remember festivals?), every single Polygon fan (that I know of) was yearning for the release of it. Man, what a track this one is. The production quality is superb, the melodies are incredibly catchy, the whole structure of it all is just that of a perfect dancefloor anthem.

Coming Home also features the beautifully fitting jealousy-laden vocals of local indie up-and-comer Martin Jasper and it elevates the whole track even higher than it already was, even though I still can't unhear "be my phone now" right before the drop. Or maybe exactly because of that. The way Polygon built the vocal into the track is nothing short of masterful. The instrumental starts off with an ominous eeriness and builds itself up more and more the higher the jealousy levels of the lyrics rise, exploding into their most melodically aggressive drops yet. After this first burst of energy the vocals come back in and reinforce the message before the instrumental takes it up yet another notch with a variation on the melody that I can't get enough of. Man I love it when producers do that. In the second drop the duo blesses us with another variation in melody, adding even more fuel to the fire.

I love this track and Polygon so so much. They could create a religion named Holy-gon and I wouldn't even complain. I am crossing my fingers they will keep the energy up this year and won't be Poly-gone anytime soon.

Did you really think I'd turn my fanboi levels for the new year? Think again! Anyway, here's some other dancefloor-y things that happened this week:

ShockOne - Follow Me (Blanke Remix)
OkregLucky, MagMag - No Worries
BLVCK CROWZ, FOXON - DON'T STOP
Phibes - Why Should I

2. Teddy Killerz - Shine (remixes) [Neuropunk Records]

Recommended if you like: Moekel, Oldschool Neuro, IMANU

On October 8th the Ukrainian-Russian trio with a marked preference for the horror genre, the Teddy Killerz, announced to the world they were holding a remix competition for their Neuropunk release Shine off their Panic Attack EP. As one of the label owners they went all out and offered some incredible prizes, one of which was an official release on Neuropunk. A few weeks later and the Teddies had received an enourmous pile of more than 300 entries from newcomers and established artists alike! However, as the judges Garud, Place 2b, Paimon, Gydra, Nais and Vigilante from Artists & Relations began to work their way through the submissions, it became clear that releasing just one of these incredible remixes wouldn't be possible. Consequently, they instead decided to release the first three winners on the Shine Remixes EP!

Coming in at third place we have a remix by a seemingly fresh face from Auckland, New Zealand: Intercept! Wait, why seemingly? Well, even though most of his internet activity as Intercept happened this year, he has been around as far back as 2009. While he started out as a DJ, he quickly familiarized himself with Neurofunk production and debuted in 2012 on You So Fat Records. One or ten bootlegs later, adult life caught up to him and he went off the DnB grid for a while. However, thanks to an abundance of free time lately he is now back stronger than ever!

Even though it's been a while since he was truly active, Intercept's remix can easily keep up with new-school neurofunk contemporaries like IMANU or Buunshin in terms of freshness and production quality. The chopped up vocals combined with the quick in-your-face techy barrage of sounds gives the track a whole other level of energy that makes you want jump in your seat. After the assault-like first drop Intercept switches it up a bit and goes for half-time in the second half. Rest assured, the second drop will hit you just as hard, if not more.

From new-school to old-school, the second placed entry by Picota & Kumbh goes in the complete opposite direction. Although they probably don't have to experience much darkness in their sunny hometown Seville in Southern Spain, these two are experts in creating dark and atmospheric tunes. No matter if it's their various releases on Citrus Recordings or the now-defunct Lifestyle Music, their tracks transport you straight back to the Bad Company era of Neurofunk.

From the get-go it is obvious that this remix is different from the first. As soon as that first big old-school reese bass kicks in, you know you're in for one hell of a ride. With funk oozing out of every single note and a bass so massive it fills the whole room, you basically have no choice but to nod along. In the second half the duo change the previously straight-forward drum rhythm into a more syncopated, even more old-school break flow.

Let's get to the overall winning entry. Drumroll, please.

The first place in the first official Neuropunk remix competition goes to... Austrian DnB up-and-comer Moekel! From old-school to Schnitzel-school, this talented producer takes us in yet another completely different direction than the previous remixes. But who is Moekel? Moekel started his DJing in a local student club, the Poco Loco in Graz. Soon enough the chart music sound of that scene didn't excite him as much anymore and he started pursuing electronic music. While he started out as a Deep-House-slash-Electronica producer under his mimicry alias, he switched to his now main alias Moekel in 2018 and with it his sound to drum and bass, with a few hip-hop productions here and there.

Moekel's Shine remix stands out as one of the most unique productions of the bunch. He took the dark and filthy original and twisted and turned it until something beautiful emerged. Using a lot of his signature big analogue-sounding synth plucks he created a sound that is minimal, yet hard-hitting and full of little details. Schnitzelstep, as some would call it. Maybe we will soon call this sound Moekelstep, who knows? After the first full-speed drop the muted drums lead us into a short half-time break before switching back for one last grand dnb finale. Masterful remix.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to all the participants for the incredible music!

Massive thank you again to Neuropunk for helping us out with this review!

Other neuro and techy stuff that happened this week:

QZB - Elektron Dub
Despersion - Wake Up EP
Neuromonakh Feofan - Ha 3ape (please listen to this one, it's incredible)

3. Puzzle - True Colours EP [Redacted]

Recommended if you like: gyrofield, IMANU, Tom Finster

New year, same traditions. It's Hidden Gem Of The Week™ time!

This week's pick comes from someone truly new to the scene: Austrian producer Puzzle. After releasing his first official track on a compilation on the independent label Debunked Records earlier last year, he is now ready to show the world his debut EP, the True Colours EP. But it's not just his debut EP, it's also the first release ever on the Bristolian label Redacted! Established in 2019, Redacted started out as a Bristol-based event brand that soon included a bi-weekly podcast, the Redacted Radio, and with the new year also transformed into full-fledged label!

There's literally not much else to talk about when both the label and the producer are this new, so let's talk about the EP! The True Colours EP is quite the achievement for a newcomer like Puzzle. On a total of five tracks he shows a lot of variety and production quality that are rare for someone who's this new to the scene. Or for some established artists, for that matter. I'm getting ahead of myself here though.

The EP starts off with Aquarell, a rhythmically left-field but immensely beautiful cinematic roller (not the foghorn kind) that quickly makes it clear that you should expect the unexpected on this EP. This interesting piece of music is followed up by the exploration of a non-dnb tempo that is Soothe Me. Especially the second drop makes it clear that the likes of IMANU et al. are one of his biggest inspirations for this release, so if you like the kind of glitchy half-time genre explorations that they are known for, this track is for you.

Next up, we've got Synesthesia, which brings us back to the safe haven of DnB land. It's a bit of a continuation of Aquarell, but with less wonkyness and even more cinematic beauty. It's still definitely a techy roller (no, still not the foghorn kind) with vocal chops and distorted basslines and all that, but that breakdown that I can only describe as "epic" elevates it into something grander. Those strings combined with the big drums and echoey vocals man.

Now for probably my favorite track of the EP: Crystals. The fast-paced high-pitched bleeps and bloops are just something I cannot get enough of. While the drum rhythm starts off nice and slow in half-time for most of the first drop, the bleeps keep the energy high throughout. When the drums pick up the speed in between the slower sections of the first drop and then go full DnB in the second drop, my head starts moving around uncontrollably, in a good way. A short but very sweet track.

For the last track Puzzle goes out with a Splash. Well, not quite, but I wanted to do the pun. Splash is a very atmospheric downtempo journey through various glitches and computer sounds that might not be my favorite of the bunch but is nonetheless very interesting to listen to.

All in all, I can wholeheartedly recommend this EP! After a debut release that is this great I'd also say both Puzzle and Redacted are worth keeping track of.

Other Hidden Gems that have been released this week:

Various Artists - We Are Incurzion Vol. 1 [Incurzion Audio]
Absence Of Self - Dream - VIP
Snowtek & Ferice - Keep On Anything
Debrief - Tendril EP
Xylym - Get Out / Damage