Picks Of The Week (27.03.21

1. Monty - F4DE EP [1985 Music]

Recommended if you like: Amoss, Visages, Alix Perez

Let's start this week's selection off with some heavy-hitting wubs by none other than Monty!

Monty is an UK-born, Toulouse-based producer that should really be on your to-watch list if you like the deeper sounds of the genre. His way into drum and bass is pretty much the most straight-forward "classical" way you can think of. Monty was always exposed to a lot of musicality in his life. Not only is his dad playing the guitar and piano in a Jazz band, his brother also used to be (maybe still is?) a drummer in a metal band, which all lead to Monty taking up the guitar and eventually the bass guitar himself. In 2012 his actual introduction into drum and bass followed, at a Dirty Dancing party at the legendary Le Bikini club in Toulouse, which was organised by SKS, probably most known for being the label owner of Vandal Records. After a few years of enjoying the parties as a guest, he saved up to buy a controller and started producing. His first actual release as Monty came to light in 2015 on Syndrome Audio, followed by a slew of singles and EPs on labels like Flexout, Critical, Vandal Records and, eventually, 1985 Music, where he became one of the label's regulars around 2018 and where this newest F4DE EP is also released on.

Remember what I said about how Monty should be on your list if you like deeper stuff? That applies tenfold to 1985 Music, Alix Perez's independent label. Not only has the London-based label been a platform for some of the best soulful and deeper parts of the dnb spectrum, it has also never shied away from some of the slower BPMs, from Breakbeat to Dubstep. While the label is quite diverse in its output, it always has a distinct unique style and vibe to it. This clear vision extends to the artworks and visual design of the label's promotional material as well. This cohesiveness instantly put them on the map of some of the best labels out there and quickly earned them the Best Newcomer Label award in the Drum and Bass Arena awards in 2017. The deep and soulful sound presented by the label is created by the likes of Visages, Dogger & Mindstate, Halogenix, Bredren and, well, Monty.

Alright, let's talk a bit about Monty's fourth EP on 1985, F4DE!

The EP kicks off with the title track, which feels like an exploration of the more jumpy wub's that you might find on labels like Sofa Sound. You can still clearly hear the signature sound of Monty's heavier productions, from the atmospheric melodies in the intro to the aggressively distorted bass throughout the drop, but it's got that DLR style to it. There's probably a technical reason for that, maybe because some of the drums are a bit more Sofa-y than usual or maybe because he worked some classic rave alarms into it. I am not the one for technical reviews. All I know for certain is that I am enjoying this track quite a bit.

Next we've got the absolutely massive Righteous. I really am not someone who knows a lot about 140/Dubstep, so I will simply say that this sounds incredibly huge and that my ears still vibrating a few minutes after listening to it.

Monty then rolls back to DnB tempo on SVP, his collaboration with Icicle. To save you the google search: SVP stands for S'il vous plait. And it's one hell of a roller. The intro makes you feel like you're outside a club waiting to be let in already. You can hear the muted drums, the bass sometimes even vibrates through the walls, there's even a weird high-pitched sound that you can't quite place but could be from the air conditioning unit nearby. Then a powerful Lion's roar signals the descend into the jungle that a dark basement club can be, where the previously muted elements are now out in full force. Grotty, nasty and other words that some might interpret as negative, but are all meant as a compliment for this kind of deep and dark rolling tune. All of them apply.

Next up we've got my absolute highlight of the EP: Whatever You Need. It strikes this perfect balance between dark aggressiveness and melodic soulfulness that is probably my favourite part of Monty's productions. Honestly, that bassline goes in. It might start relatively harmless, but it just builds itself up more in more in both volume and distortion with every passing second. When you think you've survived the first onslaught of heavy vibes and the track drops out of the normal rolling pattern for a second, it strikes back even harder a few seconds later. Don't get me wrong, the melody isn't just "statically" becoming more and more intense over the course of the track. The intensity comes and goes, giving each "melody loop" a different feel to it. I feel like I can't explain what I mean, but all that really matters is that it sounds incredibly sick. Real Quest vibes.

Lastly, we've got Polar Winds, a collaboration with fellow frenchmen Visages. After the mostly quite heavy four tracks that came before, Polar Winds takes a step back and goes all in on the soulful deep liquid vibe while still maintaining the overall energy of a Monty track. It rolls along super smoothly, with various different both melodic and rhythmic elements coming in left and right giving the track a really catchy flow. The kind of vibe Polar Winds is going for is simply one of my absolute favourites in the deeper subgenres. Really really lovely tune.

Probably one of my favourite EPs this year so far!

Other deep and techy stuff from this week:

CELO - Feelin My Love / Solitude (really good stuff)
Monrroe, Ruth Royall - Drowning
Levela - Finally Free
Surve - Need To Love Tonight 💎
Focal Tone - Passage Of Time 💎
Waeys, Duskee - Bold Courage
Rohaan - Purity
Rido - Traveller

Also some other (non-deep) liquid that I recommend from this week:

KALOA - Extraterrestrial 💎
Fishy, Nostre, Lottie Woodward - Radiate
Phonetic - In Your Arms (<3)
Ben Rolo - Foundations (<3)
LSB, DRS - Jazz Arps (Technimatic Remix)
Unknown Artist - 93 Till Infinity EP
Mr Joseph, Identified, T.R.A.C - No Pleasure Without Pain
Nymoz - Behind The Hills / Float 💎
Ben Vibrant - Reasons 💎
Variants - Antitode 💎
Joja - Running 💎
Minos - Hold Ya Hands

2. Russian Jump Up Mafia - Slavic Like That [RJM]

Recommended if you like: Adidas Tracksuits, Vodka, Macky Gee

Get your tracksuits on, grab a vodka bottle and get into squatting position: we're going to Russia.

Have you ever wondered what belgian jump up drenched in russian stereotypes would sound like? Wonder no more, the Russian Jump Up Mafia has got your back! Not much is known about Russian's Adidas-sponsored balaclava-wearing answer to the Swedish House Mafia, but you honestly don't need much backstory to enjoy the ride here. All that is really known is that they are a side project of a couple well-established russian dnb acts that rotate with every song, some of whom you can even spot in their amazing music videos. They exploded onto the scene with their self-titled and self-released debut EP in 2019, which was immediately followed up by their slavic version of Billie Eilish's Bad Guy. Yes. Earlier this year they put their own unique spin on Apashe's Uebok, which they're now following up with another slavic version of a huge song!

This time they've chosen Cardi B's I Like it as their victim. Well, mostly the I like it like that part, which has now become Slavic Like That. In the verses our protagonist lists off examples of him being slavic as hell. He likes stripes and when the rouble is strong, for example. This all leads up to an incredibly catchy belgian jump up type beat, because why the hell not. If you think that is not quite russian enough, I suggest you stick around for the second drop. Just as you think the jump up is going to drop again after the second verse, it switches the tempo and melody up into straight-up Russian Hardbass. For the second half they switch it back into the jump up we've come to expect from the first drop.

This whole experience is greatly enhanced by the amazing music video, which is so getting my music video of the year vote at this year's DnB awards. Our track-suited protagonist shows us his best russian dance moves in greenscreen settings ranging from a lonely back alley, where he is posing with an 1980s Lada Riva car, to those super old VHS-quality videos of russians dancing in a circle to DnB and Hardbass. Do I need to say more?

If you think this all sounds ridiculous: you aren't wrong. But that's exactly why I love it so much. It makes me laugh every single time and is simply fun. Simply amazing, blyat!

Other jump up stuff from this week:

Aktive - Take You Higher
Kanine - One (<33)
Mofes - Without You
Turno, Skantia - Engage

3. SHINee - Don't Call Me (Fox Stevenson Remix) [Scream Records]

Recommended if you like: K-Pop, Feint, SØL

This week is full of surprises, isn't it?

Well, this was technically released last week, but flew so much under the radar for me that it took me until this week to notice. Whoops. Anyway.

I'm not sure if my brain is just not loading all the data correctly, or if this is actually the first time I'm properly talking about Fox Stevenson here. I love that guy, how did this happen? Warning: I definitely don't know as much as some of the bigger Fox fans. I will still ramble on for quite a bit.

Stanley Stevenson-Byrne started his production career considerably earlier than most: With the console game Music 2000, which was the greatest and only way to produce Jungle on your Playstation 1, according to Vice. He supposedly was around 7 during that time. He first entered the actual limelight of the electronic music scene in 2009 as Stan SB with Cloud Head, which was how he got in touch with Liquicity, who continued to be massively supportive of him. Reminder: He was 16 then. It didn't even take long for his signature vocals to enter the productions either, a few months later he released Tears in rain, the first track I could find online that featured the voice we (well, me at least) all know very well by now. Yep, not only is he playing multiple instruments, he is also a big singer-songwriter guy.

A bunch of free releases on his Myspace (yup) later, he released the Anyone Out There EP on Subphere Records in 2013, probably his biggest project at the time and more importantly one that stood the test of time. Most people associate Stan SB with his cheesy happy uplifting DnB, but with this EP it already became quite clear that he doesn't want to stick to one genre forever. Since he felt like people would still keep associating the Stan SB name with his 99% DnB past, he wanted to make a clean cut. And just like that, Fox Stevenson was born.

With this name change he aimed to do everything differently. Not only did he start releasing on Dubstep-focused labels like Firepower Records, he even started his own label cloudhead records in 2014 so he could express his creativity even more freely. Over the following years this genre diversity lead to releases on Disciple, Monstercat and even Spinnin' Records. What a list. Throughout all this genre exploration he also kept coming back to the drums and the basses, with a few DnB tracks spread out over the course of his many EPs and even a single here and there for Liquicity. He even released a DnB VIP of Hoohah on Spinnin'! I didn't even know they released DnB. One thing became clear over all this genre and label hopping though: No matter what he produced, it was always clearly his. Always happy, always a little extra cheesy (I mean that in the best way possible), always fun as hell.

While I still have a soft spot for the huge pile of DnB he released with Liquicity in 2018, it was Bruises on UKF's Pilot Records in the same year that seemed to mark the start of a new, better era for him. The following release, Out My Head, started the journey to his self-released debut album Killjoy in 2019. If there were still any slight genre boundaries left for him at that point, they were now being shattered too. It's got Punk, it's got Dubstep, it's got DnB, it's got Electro Pop, anything you can imagine is on this quite personal album. Okay, except Crossbreed maybe. In tandem with this fully personal record, he also started a project that he long dreamed of pursuing: Fox Stevenson Live. Just him as the frontman with Dan Sawyer on the drums and Bustre on the guitar.

During 2020, post-album, he put out a series of singles on Pilot, Monstercat and Disciple, which includes some of absolute favorite stuff from him. I love Don't Care Crown immensely and none of you nay-sayers are going to change that!

Well that was a bit longer than expected. Okay now we've finally reached 2021 and the release I actually wanted to talk about here: Fox Stevenson's remix of K-Pop band SHINee's Don't Call Me. Told you there's literally no boundaries at this point.

Don't Call Me is the title track of the band's 7th album with the same name and that's pretty much where my knowledge about them ends. I don't mind K-Pop, but I definitely wouldn't call myself a fan or anything. However, thanks to Fox Stevenson's remix my neighbours are now hearing my garbage attempts at singing along to the Korean-english hybrid lyrics every single day. It's just so fun. The way the drums in the buildup switch from the relatively simple two-step beat to the faster, more involved breaks when the second guy comes in and starts his verse gets me every time. You can feel that Fox didn't just slap on a dnb beat and a random melody and called it a day. It feels more like Fox's new instrumental has become the band's sixth member. Nothing makes this feeling more apparent than the call-and-response between the band's chorus vocals and Fox's weaved-in happy distorted bass melody. It just feels complete, you know?

I love this quite a lot!

Other dancefloor things from this week:

Feint - Weavers (<33)
Bensley - That Feeling (<33)
Krakota - Take Me There (<33)
A K A - Hold On Me 💎
Exploid - Beyond Good And Evil LP 💎

Because it's nearly a whole sub-category of its own and I want to highlight them a bit, here's a list of japanese dancefloor DnB releases:

KaSa - Right Now 💎
Nhato - Leavings 💎
Seventhrun - Throgh The Darkness 💎 (I know there's a typo there)
Nhato - Orange Love 💎
Taishi - Colosseum (Project-G Remix) 💎