Picks Of The Week (10.04.21

1. Paper Dragon & Grafix - Forget The Rain [Our Space]

Recommended if you like: Fred V, Cyantific, Culture Shock

OI!

It is not a well-kept secret that I enjoy watching livestreams quite a lot. I mean, what else are you gonna do on a Saturday these days? One of my favourite livestreams to watch are those by Mr. Joshua Jackson, better known as Grafix, of Fred V fame. As of today, the Exeter-based legend has blessed us with more than 20 hours of extremely laggy explosions, endless OI and Grafixxxx soundboard effects and stock footage of an old guy wearing a hard hat giving a thumbs up. It's every bit as stupid as it sounds. Obviously, I ate that shit up. Sadly the second season has already concluded so you'll have to live with watching reruns for now, but I'm sure the next one is soon to come.

Why am I even telling you all this stuff? Well, because Grafix got a new banger out this week, featuring none other than Paper Dragon!

... Paper Dragon?

Paper Dragon is the one of the most interesting creative outlets to come out of the DnB metropolis Bristol in recent times. While you might not recognize the name yet, you will probably recognize the project's front woman Ruth Royall. Even though she has been active in the neo soul scene in London since she was 14, and even got offered a big label jazz deal at one point, she has only entered the DnB sphere very recently. While she was already a live performer at Fred V & Grafix' live shows, the first step into the production side of things only happened when the duo split up. Grafix asked her to work together on his first post-split solo EP, resulting in her first DnB release Refuge in 2019. This was followed by countless incredible collaborations across the scene including Pola & Bryson, Ekko & Sidetrack, BCee, Mollie Collins, Monrroe among many many others.

In 2019 Ruth Jon Savage, the tour manager of Fred V & Grafix, and Bruce Turner and Kris Burton of electronic duo Playhead joined forces as Paper Dragon to express their artistic ideas in completely new ways. To put into perspective how much expertise is coming together in that group: Across all members, they have worked with the likes of U2, Kate Bush, KOAN Sound, plus all the DnB legends mentioned above. Never restricting themselves to just one sound, the collective has been experimenting with all kinds of different instruments, song writing styles and tempos over the last years. Not just that, Ruth has also championed the #keepitreal movement that challenges some of the unrealistic body standards that plague online communities, which was also the basis for the Paper Dragon track As I Am.

Well that was quite a wall of text before I even got to the song. I just think all artists involved are quite neat okay?

This week Grafix and Ruth, as part of Paper Dragon, reunited for the collaborative single Forget The Rain. Usually when I say a track is uplifting, it's because the melodies are just so highly energetic and in-your-face happy that you can't help but be infected by the happiness too. This track is different though. Both the soulful vocals and the incredible synths of the signature Grafix instrumental both convey this sort of melancholic, hopeful happiness. It makes you feel like even if things aren't looking great at the moment, things will get better. While the individual parts of the track are already great at conveying this emotion, it is the arrangement of it all that makes this one special for me. Everything is interwoven so perfectly that you just have to close your eyes and smile.

I love this one quite a lot. Such a perfect soundtrack for the summer.

Other light and uplifting dancefloor things from this week:

Captain Bass, Odeum - Living In My Dream (technically last week)
Fakti, ALICANTO, Ronnie - Let You Go
Wiguez, Vizzen - Love Me Better
Changing Faces, Lottie Woodward - Closer
Ripple, Eviya - Summer Lights
Rudimental, James Vincent McMorrow - Be Somebody (The Prototypes Remix)

2. NELSØN - Planet [Twin Ticket Records] 💎 Recommended if you like: The Prototypes, Crash Comet, Mage

Let's just keep the dancefloor vibe going, with this week's Hidden Gem Of The Week™️!

This one was quite the random one actually. I was already fully done with updating my playlist and already had a rough idea of who to write about this week, but then I saw I had a message request on Instagram by a certain NELSØN, who told me about his new drum and bass double single. Never heard of him, but that has never stopped me before, so I gave it a shot before I called it a day. Since I'm now writing about him here you can probably already imagine what my reaction was. Yup, I absolutely loved it.

NELSØN is a quite new up-and-coming not-just-dnb producer from Arnhem in The Netherlands. The first publicly shared production of his was released in 2019 under the Nidingo alias. Not long after that first (Downtempo? I'm bad with genres outside DnB) release and a remix EP he switched over to the current NELSØN name though. His first release after the switch, a collaboration with JKP and MUSHU called Crystal, instantly found a lot of support and was even featured on MTV Hungary. Not quite sure why Hungary, but who cares, that's super sick in any country! His first solo release Easy Way Out followed not long after, now being followed up by his first Drum and Bass double single on Twin Ticket Records: Planet / Somewhere In The Middle!

The release kicks off with Planet, both story- and sound-wise a journey of a track. According to the song's bio, it's about being lost in time and space and trying to find your way back home somehow. That's not just something the author thought would sound cool as a description though, the production actually conveys this really well too. We start off aimlessly drifting through the galaxy, which is conveyed through the very atmospheric string-heavy instrumental. This gives the great vocal a lot of space to introduce us to the scenery and story of the track. The first time the drums really kick in everything is still very relaxed, one could say we went from floating to actively steering towards where we think home is. After a few bars, another synth melody and the vocal comes back in, increasing tracks energy quite a bit. When the breakdown hits, only the vocals are left, with the instrumental going back to their atmospheric state from the intro. Almost like the first destination we thought was home was a dead-end. However, not long after this we notice our actual home in the distance and switch over to full speed, symbolized by the super energetic last drop. I was thoroughly enjoying the track before already, but when that last drop hit I knew this was something special.

The second half of the release is Somewhere In The Middle. Compared to Portal, this one is less of a journey, but that doesn't mean it's not a Banger™️. The great vocals by Xtina Louise tell a story about a protagonist who's been feeling lost for quite some time. Somewhere in the middle of the constant chaos of life however, there's always that one thing, moment or person that makes it all make sense again. It's a textbook example of an upbeat dancefloor banger: it's got super catchy sing-along-able vocals, it's got a whole bunch of great melodies, it's got drums that hit just right, I just love it. Somewhere in the middle I found this release and I couldn't be happier about it.

In short, it's a big release that leaves me wanting more. If you at all enjoy vocal-driven dancefloor, you'll enjoy this a lot!

Other more heavier dancefloor things from this week:

CLIQUES. - CLIQUES GOT DUBS VOL. 3 (<33)
Origin8a & Propa, Benny Page - Harmony (Lee Mvtthews Remix)
Friction, Poppy Baskcomb - Falling Down
LMNOP, Dr. Apollo - I STOLE YOUR GIRL (loose fit, but had to mention it)

3. Minos - Tribe LP [Fokuz Recordings]

Recommended if you like: Dawn Wall, Artificial Intelligence, Satl

Alright we can't just do a full dancefloor week, let's talk liquid!

I enjoyed quite a lot of liquid stuff this week, (as you can see from the super long list at the bottom), but one that really stood out for me was Minos' debut album, the Tribe LP! While the producer from Heidelberg in Southern Germany has only been around as Minos since 2019, he is definitely not that much of a new face to the scene. In fact, he started his production career as Dub Berzerka way back in the distant lands of 2012. After countless of jump up releases, some even featuring the Jump Up King Macky Gee himself, he decided to leave this dark Jump Up past behind him and started the more liquid-focused Minos project in 2018. Ever since that switch, he has put out a steady stream of lush liquid releases on the likes of Fokuz Recordings, Integral Records and Yumi Recordings. And now it's time for his debut 8-track album!

Since I sadly don't have enough time to review the album properly, I'll just quickly go through it. In short: if you're a fan of the "tribal liquid" style that artists like Artificial Intelligence, Dawn Wall or Mohican Sun are known for, you will enjoy this album too. If you are as addicted to the heavily rolling yet still very melodic, distorted vocal sample side of that sub-subgenre as I am, Hold Ya Hands, Love So Much and Mystery would fill the niche you're looking for. Pure vibes. If you like your tribal liquid more laid-back and even more vibey, the second half of the album will be more your thing. While my own personal highlights in that area would have to be the excellent Sub:liminal collaboration Motions and deeply atmospheric 2Night, I still highly enjoyed the great vibes on both You're The One and Echoes. But what if you don't care about chilling out and just want to listen to some bangin' heavy hitting tribal-inspired dnb? You're in luck, because the title track Tribe is exactly that! Even though I love the liquid of the rest of the album, the energy of the title track is just so insane that it might actually be my favourite of the album.

Awesome debut album! Highly recommended for all the liquid heads here.

Other liquid stuff from this week:

Edlan, T Base, T.R.A.C - I Found You (my god is this lovely <333)
Elixr - Lost In Thought EP 💎 (<33)
Various Artists - Galacy - Formations LP
LSB, DRS - The Blue Hour (Reworked)
Linguistics, GLXY, Charlie Perry - Searching For
Lenzman, Danny Sanchez - Gimmie A Sec
Walkr, Riya - Paragon
Native C - Same Mind / Retrospect 💎
Geostatic - Conviction 💎
Aydn - Relics 💎