Picks Of The Week (25.12.21

1. Tiki Taane, Flowidus - Summer Time 2021 Remix [Selfreleased]

Recommended if you like: Shapeshifter, Lee Mvtthews, Fred V

Saying Drum & Bass in New Zealand is quite the success story would be an understatement, and not just because they're one of the only countries lucky enough to have had raves throughout most of the pandemic. Last week even saw Drum & Bass in the headlines of all the big newspapers in New Zealand and even some international ones! Let's... not dwell on that specific dimension of DnB in Aotearoa though. Let's instead talk about Kiwi legend Tiki Taane!

Telling you the whole Tiki Taane story might be a little much, so let's boil it down to the highlights and DnB related stuff: He's been an active multi-talented musician since around 1991 (!), most notably as part of Salmonella Dub from 1996 to 2007. However, not only is he rapping/singing and playing guitar, his talents also include production and sound engineering. If you've ever seen a live performance of NZ band Shapeshifter, you'll have experienced his engineering work. You might also know him from his various features with NZ legends like Concord Dawn, State Of Mind or more recently TREi and Flowidus. Quite the Tiki Taalented guy I must say!

While his musical accolades include things like receiving double platinum and gold and MP Simon Bridges telling the world that "Tiki Taane is a disgrace", I want to focus on his first single of his 2010 album In The World Of Light. Yes, in the depths of the german -10°C winter I want to talk about the one and only Summer Time, more specifically the new 2021 remix of the summer anthem! Wait, but how did this whole even come about? Good thing you asked! You know, one fateful monday morning the George FM Drive radio crew, Sin and Brook, thought to themselves: "Hey, we love this tune a lot, wouldn't it be fun to replace the 2010s NZ newcomer name dropping of the original with some new 2021 names?". They sent an email with exactly that idea to Tiki (which might have even included some lyric suggestions) on the 22nd November and called him a little bit later to see what he thinks. To quote him: "Oh my god, absolutely". He immediately called up Raphael from Flowidus to put a modern spin on the instrumental too and a few days later, it was done. Damn.

However if you didn't know anything about this quite quick turn-around, you honestly wouldn't be able to tell. Not only did Tiki throw together great new lyrics shining a light on NZ veterans and up-and-comers like Burnzy, Elipsa, Lee Mvtthews, TREi, Montell2099 and Camo MC in record time, Flowidus also effortlessly turned the original instrumental into a certified dancefloor banger™. This isn't one of those frowny-face creating bangers though, quite the opposite. Wherever you may hear this tune, whether it's in the sun at the main stage of rhythm and vines or at your apartment in the middle of winter, you won't be able to help but smile. It's the perfect auditory encapsulation of what I imagine a perfect NZ summer is like and what more can you even want at this moment?

Even after 50 listens, this one still manages to turn that winter frown upside down. Let the summer begin!

Other dancefloor things from this week:

BLVCK CROWZ, Die Gebrüder Brett - JUST DANCE
PIKASONIC, Tatsunoshin, Tsugumi Nagahara - Euphoria
20Sheet - Dancefloor Fever 💎
Rameses B - When You Dream

2. HVZY, Ly Da Buddah - Shiraz / Monkee Bite 💎 [Real Vibes]

Recommended if you like: Operate, Notequal, Klinical

Unsurprisingly, this week has been one of the quieter ones in terms of releases. You know what that also means though? That means we have more time to talk about some Hidden Gems Of The Week™️!

The first underrated release I want to share with you all comes from a city not even 2 hours of train journey away from me: Braunschweig, Germany! It might not be quite as well-known as Berlin, but trust me, when it comes to DnB Braunschweig doesn't screw around. If you talk with a few locals from there, you'll very quickly hear all about the "DnB capital of Germany". A self-awarded title, sure, but there's some merit to it I'd say. A lot of big DJs, including The Prototypes (which I've seen 3 times there!) and Nicky Blackmarket, constantly come back to Braunschweig because they know the vibes are simply out of this world there, especially in the one and only Brain Club. Not going to lie, I can't wait to go back there either.

Probably the biggest local ambassador of the genre has got to be Ly Da Buddah, also known as Oliver Lüddecke, maybe even more so known as "Dorfschamane", i.e. "shaman of the village". The witch doctor with an unmatched energy has now been DJing for more than 25 years, but that's only the tip of the icebuddah. Not only has he also been producing his own stuff for more than 20 years, with releases on Serial Killaz, Kartoons, Ghetto Dub and countless more, he is also active in literally all other DnB related areas. He founded the infamous Drum and Bass Bundesliga, a honestly really fun regular event series in which each city sends in their best DJs and MCs to battle it out in the arena that is the club, all leading up to one city being crowned Champion each year.

He is responsible for the DnB online magazine Headliner Mag, he's got his own design and/or merchandise shop with Dennis Gabbana called Monkeejuice and he founded his own label Real Vibes in 2017 together with Mystic Dan. After running a whole ton of event series, including Motagen Sound Nights, Bashment Boutique, Liquid Sunshine, Headliner Mag Night, and producing even some other genres under his Dazed Dog and Motagen Sound aliases, it is safe to say that he is one of the most active figures in the local scene right now. He might not be as well-known outside Germany (yet), but here he is so omnipresent and popular he even won 5 awards in the German DnB Awards!

What makes this particular release a Hidden Gem candidate, is that he teamed up with one of his Brain Klub regulars: HVZY! Previously known as Hazey, even more previously known as David Salehi, HVZY started his DnB journey as a raver-turned-DJ. For years he set the dancefloor at Brain Klub ablaze with his selections from the deeper and darker sides of the genre, but at some point that simply wasn't enough anymore, he wanted to create his own tunes! His debut release, the murky double single Coincidence / Transcendence", followed in 2019 on Urban Wildlife. Since then he has also put out a collab with Brain (the jokes write themselves) on Vandal Records, dabbled a bit with some bootlegs and joined forces with fellow Braunschweigian producer Bass&Buds under their new HBNB alias.

As if the two have their own red carpet arrival big band to announce this release, Shiraz opens to triumphantly catchy trumpets and various other brass instruments. However, once the native american warcry sounds the alarm, the Wobble™ enters the mix too. The duo starts with a rather subdued, rather low-end heavy version of the distorted bass, but this peace isn't kept for long. Not only does the wobble quickly become more and more aggressive, we also got a few fun vocal chops giving it that little bit of extra energy.

On the flipside we've got Monkee Bite, which goes for more of a continuously pounding, steppy rhythm. Like its predecessor however, it has progressively more aggressive drop structure. After having the booming basses bubbling up from the underground, the duo incorporates the distorted wave of bass once more, this time more ominously creepy than before though. My favourite part has got to be the little pause in the middle of the drop though, the switch back to full-powered distortion just hits you like a truck. Another highlight: The 4x4 second drop! Remember a few sentences back, when I said it has a continuously pounding thing going on? Even before getting to this second drop it already felt like it could lend itself to a 4x4 rhythm, turns out that feeling was 100% accurate. Who doesn't love some great bam bam bam in the morning?

Great deep and dark vibes by local talents I'm sure you'll hear more about in the future!

Other deep and dark things from this week:

Cranium, Blvdline - You
Submarine - Murky
Alloy - Fractured EP
Hybert Phillips - Hybert Phillips EP (10/10 name)
Default Noise - Levigate