Picks Of The Week (25.09.21

1. Various Artists - Lifecycle: Rebirth [Blackout Music]

Recommended if you like: Neonlight, Phace, Redpill

Blackout's back, alright!

Well, it's not like they were really gone for long, but 154 days without any new releases and 602 days with no signature Blackout event will make any Neurofunk lover's heart weep. However, you can now put the tissues away. Or get them back out I guess. Last friday Utrecht's very own TivoliVredenburg hosted their first "post-corona" Blackout night and last Monday even us non-dutchies were blessed by brand new music in form of the final installment of the Lifecycle EP series!

And what a finale it is. For the first of the four amazing tracks the Blackout head honchos Black, Sun and Empire themselves lured mastermind Mr Martin Mefjus away from his boyband activities with Camo & Krooked for a few weeks to collaborate with them instead. The result: Something Bad! As in, that's what the track is called. Of course the track itself is pure technical Neuro goodness, duh. Did you not read the names involved in this? Everything goes super hard but still has that signature Mefjus squeaky-clean production. Exactly what I was hoping for!

Next up, we've got Hamburg technoid DnB maestro Phace presenting us his brand new LEWK. No I hadn't heard of that word before either, but the internet has told me it's supposed to be used like "look", as in signature look, so I'm just running with it now. If there was a equivalent word for signature sound, I would most definitely use it to describe this track. LEWK is a Phace track through and through. From the ominous retro-futuristic introductory atmosphere, to the water droplet snares, to the rhythmic elements that are as hard-hitting as they are syncopated, everything I love about his current sound is just there.

In usual Phace fashion (Phacion), the track never stops evolving. We've got the aforementioned rhythmic weirdness going back and forth with a room-filling ascending bass (there's gotta be better ways to describe that sound), where the latter is then replaced by a shorter, more punchy response, before finally switching it up once more by switching to a rolling drumbeat and getting that big ominous bass back. The second half might be similar structurally, but everything is moved around and modified enough to keep the listener (me) engaged throughout. Especially that short but Oh So Sweet 4x4 transition into the very last part of the second drop is just perfect. I honestly can't get enough of this track.

Speaking of can't get enough, let's talk about the legendary Neurofunk producers Neonlight! More specifically, the Leipzig-based duo's absolute banger of a contribution to this EP, Reflexion. I've never really had a chance to talk much about them here, but let's get this out of the way: I'm a massive fan of them. Way back in 2017, when I was still a quite casual fan of the genre and I barely knew what Neuro even was, I went to Let It Roll for the first time and it was their set that made me fall in love with the subgenre. I wasn't even physically there for the set, but I've listened to the YouTube upload of it more times than I can count. As one of the commenters put it, "the whole tracklist is fire wtf". Alright, I will save the rest of my fanboying for when they release their album, we're here for Reflexion!

I know I've said this for all of the previous tracks already, but this track is pretty much a quintessential Neonlight tune. Not only do we have some excellent Castlevania-esque spooky atmosphere in the buildup here, we've also got a zany yet incredibly catchy melody in the drop that I doubt I'll be able to get rid of the following weeks. Let's be real: probably months. Pair those already great elements with some satisfying drumwork and a continuously purring bass that will rattle every room it is played in, and bam, you've got an instant classic on your hands. Neonlight, you beautiful bastards, you did it again.

Last but absolutely not least we've got one of France's most unique producers of the scene, Redpill! The Toulousian producer, who, fun fact, used to be part of Bl4ck 0wlz, has been turning heads with nearly every single one of his extremely well-produced releases lately. From his mind-bending Obliterate EP, to his brain-rewiring release on Annix' and Simula's Neksus Sound and his straight-up nasty Mosh Pit EP on Eatbrain, Remi Jorquera really seems to have stepped up his game lately. You could say he's On Fire. You know, like the track!

On Fire isn't just a fitting description of Redpill's latest output, it's also a great name for this banger of a track. The combination of the zigzagging ominous synths, the simple but effective titular vocal sample and Remi's subtle guitar work in the background prepares the listener for what's to follow in the drop: A full-scale attack on the senses! Well, mostly the ears, but that didn't sound as cool. With an arrangement of a few different destructively bouncy bass stabs, a huge wall of bass slinking through the 3D auditory space and the beautiful synths from the intro, Redpill managed to craft something that's as melodically pleasing as it is dancefloor-destroying.

Long story short, everyone involved in this excellent release delivered a perfect example of their signature sound. Each and every one of the tracks on this EP stand out in their own way. An incredible finale to a great EP series.

Other great Neurofunk releases from this week:

A.M.C - Void LP
Nemean - Uncreator EP
Zigi SC - Stepper 💎
BRAINPAIN - Back To The Core EP 💎

2. Niallo - Introspection EP 💎 [Expedite Records]

Recommended if you like: Freshney, Rillium, Kit Jones

What a week for interesting DnB this has been!

Not only did we get a new The Caracal Project x Rohaan collaboration on Pilot, NËU also continued their hot streak with a fresh Freshney double single, and Rillium dropped two new heaters on Surveillance Music too. However, I'm not here to talk about any of these. Of course I would love to, but this week I'd like to present you an even newer name in the game, who is also my Hidden Gem Of The Week™: Niallo!

Niallo, or Niall Overend, is a fresh new producer from Barnstaple, Devon. To save you the extra google: That's in the South West of the UK! However, nowadays he spends his time in Bristol studying Electronic Music Production at the dBs Sound & Music Institute. I feel like you guys should know where Bristol is, but just to be sure: it's also in the UK! Not that much else is known about Niall's earlier musical endeavours so far, the only thing I could really dig up is that he used to go by Invicta until around 2019-ish. Ever since he became Niallo shortly after, he started putting his heart and soul into creating unique electronic music, most of which sitting somewhere in the 170's bpm range. This slowly but surely made more and more people aware of him, resulting in a feature on rising label Stellar Audio and becoming part of DnB's New Wave Squad, All172Things's excellent group of fresh up-and-coming producers. Last but most definitely not least it also lead to his debut EP, the Introspection EP on Expedite Records!

Expe-what now? So many new names! Expedite Records is a brand new label based in DnB's capitol city Bristol, focused on giving new, boundary-pushing artists a platform to release their music on. Even though it's only been a bit more than a year since XAETIS and ON|IT founded the label, they have certainly proven their worth through consistent high quality releases around their strong group of core artists. Fun fact: I actually featured them here once before. Good thing I remembered that, because I nearly wrote the exact same paragraph about how they're a "force to be reckoned with" again. Well, what can I say, I just fully agree with Past Me. Especially after listening to this excellent new EP by Niallo. Speaking of, enough chit-chat, let's talk about the release!

The EP starts off with the titular Introspection and let's just say I was immediately convinced. Okay, you know what, no need to be coy about it, I bloody love this tune. Its beautifully serene analogue melodies just scratch that little itch that has been unscratched since the last Misanthrop album. Its pounding four-to-the-floor 172bpm techno drumpattern in the first portion of the drop transports me back to some of the best underground Techno parties I've been. However, even once it switches over to a more direct DnB drum rhythm, it manages to keep its mysterious atmosphere that somehow combines the stuffy feeling of an underground rave bunker with the feeling of getting lost in the vast nothingness of space. It is most definitely my favourite Niallo tune so far and I've been looping it all week.

We continue our journey on Ignorance. Unlike its predecessor, this one is definitely venturing into the harsher territories of the New Wave Sound™ here. Not only are the drums both splashier and more hard-hitting, we've also got some great chopped up perfectly processed eh's providing us with a bit of melodic structure. Throughout the track, both of these main elements go through waves of aggressiveness. Sometimes firing at you with superspeed, sometimes taking a step back and letting the other one take centre stage, sometimes both are thrashing wildly, sometimes only one, always keeping you on your toes. There's even a little bit of half-time involved in the second half! This one will surely rewire a lot of brains on a dancefloor.

Third on the list is Watching Us, which continues the heaviness journey we have now embarked on. Compared to Ignorance, this one is a bit more ominously bouncy though. Of course, Niallo didn't stop at that bouncy beat though. Its funky mechanical bark is thrown from the straight-forward two-step beat to a more metallic breakbeat-heavy section, where it switches its rhythm up a little, before returning into a simpler drum pattern with an another variation upon said funk. All throughout you got all these little bleeps and bloops going crazy and giving everything an even more glitchy feeling. For the second half Niall blesses us with another half-time drop, allowing the bassy bark even more room to intimidate you. Beast of a tune.

As you might imagine from the title, Serenity brings us back to the more calm and beautiful territory of Niallo's production. If Introspection was us venturing out into the unknown, Serenity would be us coming back home a changed person. Niall even goes so far as to use some of the same synths as the introductory tune to make this connection even stronger. It's emotional, it's grandiose, it's beautifully weird in the best way, it's everything I love about this new wave of DnB production. That second drop gets me to close my eyes and just enjoy the moment every single time. Incredible way to close an EP.

If you enjoy new-school DnB at all, go listen to this EP, you won't regret it. If his debut EP is already this good, I can't wait to hear what else he's got in store for us in the future.

Other deep and/or techy stuff from this week:

En:vy - Critical Presents: Binary Vol.24 (so so so so good)
Freshney - In Pieces / Resonantiae
Rillium - Control / Ether
The Caracal Project, Rohaan - Turbocharged
NickBee - Dark Matter EP
goddard. - Player (Monrroe Remix)
Dub Elements, IHR - Phosphorescence - Save The Rave Remix
Housty - Harmonics EP 💎
DLR, Break, MC Gusto - Temperature Is Rising
Disrupta - Lost Souls
Koax - Control / Slope 💎