Picks Of The Week (08.05.21

Welcome to a very special episode of Picks Of The Week!

Well it's actually quite a normal one, but tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of me doing these weekly reviews! I honestly can't believe it has been that long already, can you? I want to thank everyone who has read, upvoted or shared any of my never-ending walls of texts. It has been an absolute pleasure and honour to be able to share so much music and most importantly so many of the stupidest puns that I can think of with you all. An incredibly huge shoutout goes to /u/TELMxWILSON for organising all this and giving me this opportunity in the first place. Also shoutout to my writing colleague and bandcamp guru /u/jandogearmy for providing his insights on releases that are outside of my area of "expertise".

Enough of this, let's get to the reviews!

1. Various Artists - Future Stars Vol. 2 💎[Korsakov Music]
Recommended if you like: Discovering new talents

Well well well, Korsakov Music back at it again, huh?

I'm usually not one to review releases of the same label back-to-back like that, but I'm just too much of a sucker for newcomer compilations to let this one slip through. I literally just did a breakdown of how Korsakov came to be so I'll just assume you know them and just get straight to the artists and the music. At 21 tracks this LP is simply huge, so I'll have to focus on my favourites or I'd easily smash through the infamous character limit barrier. Even if I don't specifically mention them, everyone has delivered some great music to this massive projects and it's worth checking out in full if you've got the time!

(Since nearly everyone featured on this section is very new or still quite unknown, you could consider this multiple Hidden Gem Of The Week™ in one.)

I'll start with a duo that I have been itching to feature here ever since I've got to know them a little bit over half a year ago. Nick Beaven and Shane Hill, also known as Kaizen Flow, are a brand new London-based production duo that wants to help strengthen the Neurofunk scene in the Neuro wasteland (hehe) that is the UK. While the two (!) tracks featured on this LP are their first-ever "actual" release, they have actually been in the production game since at least 2014, when Shane and Nick started producing House together. Well, one track at least. At some point, probably sooner than later, the talented team refocused their efforts towards the hard-hitting bass-laden funks of the neuro, the first public evidence being a DnB upload from about 3 years ago. After a few more years of hacking away at various production techniques and refining their sound, they resurfaced a few more times during the last year, most notably with their sick entries in Black Sun Empire's and Teddy Killerz' Shinjuku and Shine remix competitions.

And man, were those 7 years of hiding in the shadows and grinding (hehe) away at their production skills ever worth it. Their first contribution to this LP is Grind, which I also like to call "five minutes pure insanity", but that's probably not as catchy. The buildup to said madness already makes you feel like you're in an abandoned slaughterhouse with a serial killer present, but as soon as the drop you can feel that he is now aware of your presence and actively searching for you. Every so often he bonks his crowbar on random pipes in his search for you, while irratically stomping forwards where he suspects you. The closer he gets, the faster your heart pumps. Halfway through the drop, he spots you and the wild chase begins, sonically represented by the relentless switchup in which a massive amount of high-pitched horror-esque staccato stabs continuously pierce your ears. Run away as quickly as you can, or the track won't be the only one stabbing you wildly! Incredibly massive track.

Don't worry, I didn't forget about the phenomenal pair's second track! On Wastelander Kaizen Flow dispels any rumours about being one-hit wonders before they even have a chance to appear. In fact, Wastelander sounds like the majestic mates are laughing maniacally at that ludicrous idea. I mean, they are way too humble to actually do that, but it's still a fun image in my head. However they don't just keep diabolically laughing all the way through, with another insane switchup half-way through the drop they directly show us why they're now here to stay. Seriously, that massive bass switchup blows away everything that stands in its way. I guess that's where the name comes from, everything is blasted away so much by the sheer force of nature that is that switchup that all that remains is wasteland. Yet another massive tune by the dynamic duo! If they keep kaizen-flooring us like this they'll rise to stardom in no time.

This compilation has a lot different styles and genres to offer. That said, let's talk some more about Neuro! My next highlight is Spekski's smasher of a track Need You. Spekski is not just a name I have zero idea of how to pronounce, it's also the alias of one of most interesting up-and-coming neuro producers out there. While originally from Manchester, he is now based in Boston where he is dual majoring in Classical Composition and Film Scoring at the Berklee College of Music. What an awesome combination for a Neurofunk producer. However, Neurofunk is not where Spekski's electronic music journey started at all! Way back in 2016, when he started publicly sharing his first few productions, he tried his hand in all kinds of electronic genres. From Deep House to Dubstep to 140 stuff to Psytrance to Drum and Bass, eventually. His first "proper" release Reflex came in 2020 on Theatrix's Divination Recordings, swiftly followed by Beg/Veil and Open Your Eyes/Leave You Here on the same label. Throughout all his productions you can feel his classical/film scoring background shine through, resulting in some truly grand compositions. If you like strings in your neuro, Spekski is definitely one to look out for. He has even used his musical talents in industries like TV or film, for which he scored various pilots, movies, trailers and commercials! But we're not here to talk about that, we're here to talk about banging neuro, come on, stay focused.

After the correct speed settings have been calibrated during the first few moments, Need you immediately fills the room with a large bass to give you a little taste of just how much destruction is about to rain down. You just wait. With a vocal sample that is transformed and mangled in various catchy ways throughout and a melody that makes you feel like you're crawling through an underground dungeon, Spekski keeps my head nodding for the entire first half. At this point I already clicked Save To Playlist, but then the second half began and the bass faces started appearing. The basic ingredients of the first drop are reworked into an insane call-and-response between the a stripped-back version of the drop and a full-on-insanity version of it, all while the large intro bass causes mayhem all over the place. The back and forth between the minimal two-step drums and the break-heavy explosion is just godlike. Big big tune.

Alright, one more! Even though it would be my absolute pleasure to just go through all the Neuro tracks on the compilation, I want to talk about one of the relaxed (relatively speaking here) tracks on the LP: Rozfresh - Never Loved! Rozfresh's musical journey starts a bit earler than some of the other producers featured here, in the 90s to be precise. Back then he was part of a punk rock band for a few years, but it wasn't until around the turn of the millennium that his actual electronic music journey began. On his home computer he produced all kinds of different genres and styles, from Techno, to House, to, you guessed it, Drum and Bass. Over the years he slowly but surely became better and better, leading to releases on Detached Audio, Calibrate Records and Beats In Mind, among many others.

Right from the get-go, Never Loved's beautifully arranged strings and its carefully chosen vocal sample lull you into a really lovely dream-like state. Once the quickly descending synth melody loop, which reminds me a lot of 90s-00s space travel for some reason, comes in and the deep bass emerges from the trenches, you realise it's not all chill and relax with this one. It's more of a journey through various different deep soundscapes, guided by the lovely vocal sample. Seriously, this one goes through so many changes so smoothly you don't even realise it, all while keeping the deep dream-like feeling. Everything just fits together really nicely and makes the 6 minutes runtime pass by in the blink of an eye. Oh and there's even a little 4x4 section in the buildup for the second drop! Really really lovely journey of a track.

I'm going to be honest, I was already prepared to write even more about the rest of the LP here, but this is already way too long as it is. Just trust me that the rest is also very much worth checking out. Whether it's the fun dancefloor by Volition and Gid Sedgwick, Resurgence or Sola and Jasmine Knight, the banging neuro by Shrike (especially), MV, Impex, Geatly and Dottive, Mod3no, Tengu, KZ, CPTL PNSHMNT or Thriller (yeah there's a lot of neuro), the fun acid-y vibes by KarmasynK, the deep stomper by Strangle or the relaxing Netsky-esque liquid by Battletek (<3), there's something for everyone here.

All in all, amazing stuff from names you'll certainly hear more from over the next few years!

This LP might have had a little bit of everything, but I'll try to keep the recommendations short. First, other great neuro stuff:

Nitepunk - Miracle (REAPER Remix) (!!)
Saint Robbers - Old Bass / Habar
Prdk, Brazer - Terraform 💎
Kroks - Propaganda EP 💎
Holotrope - Microbe 💎

And some awesome dancefloor things:

Blitz Union - Revolution (Zardonic Remix)
Lee Mvtthews, Watson - In A Moment
Fox Stevenson - Ether
Kalixto - Remedy 💎
Eon - Sanctum 💎
Eptic - Payback
Dolexil, DnB Allstars - Alien Vs Deer
Taby, Bazi - Revenant 💎

2. Lenzman - A Little While Longer LP [The North Quarter] Recommended if you like: Redeyes, Alix Perez, Submorphics

Let's contrast all this harsh neuro with some silky-smooth liquid.

And who could deliver that better than the master of soulful DnB Lenzman! After a year-long absence from his own label The North Quarter, the Amsterdam-based producer is now back again with his sixth album A Little While Longer. However, even someone as legendary as Lenzman started off small. While he started out as a fan of metal in his early teens, it was Hip-Hop with its soulful lyrics and raw emotions that young Lenzman first properly fell in love with. This "first musical mistress" was such a big part of his life that he started DJing, then rapping and eventually producing Hip-Hop. During one of the many regular visits of his mother in the UK he discovered Drum and Bass, one of his earliest experiences being a Metalheadz night at the infamous Blue Note in the mid-90s. While he already had a lot of passion of this new genre, he felt his career wasn't going anywhere after a few years and wasn't really sure how to continue. But then Nookie started playing out some of Lenzman's tracks around 2004 and the flame was renewed once again. It didn't take long until even more legends started supporting his tracks, including LTJ Bukem and Fabio, which lead to Lenzman's first 12-inch vinyl on Spearhead Records in 2007. Ever since then his uniquely soulful and Hip-Hop-inspired vision of liquid Drum and Bass has earned him releases on labels like Fokuz Recordings, Integral, SGN:LTD (Shogun's sister label), Subtitles and Metalheadz. In 2016 Lenzman also founded his own label The North Quarter to share even more of that clear vision with the world. Since its inception, The North Quarter has hosted releases and nurtered the careers of the likes of Redeyes, Submorphics, Satl, Tokyo Prose and most recently Echo Brown. If you like soulful DnB, The North Quarter should definitely be on your list. Just like Lenzman!

If you don't know any tracks by him yet, A Little While Longer is actually a great place to start. It's a really good representation of the soulful liquid that Lenzman has become known and loved for. The 8-track mini-album kicks off with Lil Souljah, a love letter about fatherhood. For me it emanates this strong feeling of childhood nostalgia, not only because of the amazing vocals of Slay, who masterfully expresses the immense love of his child(ren) across two verses and a catchy hook, but also because of the blissfully relaxing instrumental. A think break, a few dreamy piano melodies, it's just lovely all the way. This family theme is continued in the next instrumental track Zusterliefde, which is dutch for sister love. It's not just the name though, with its similarly rolling think breaks and lovely piano melodies the overall production and vibe is a smooth continuation too, albeit slightly more relaxed.

We continue on with another vocal-lead soul-soother: Gimmie A Sec, with the wonderfully soulful vocals of Danny Sanchez. While Danny blesses our ears with a very lovely singing performance and verses about the feelings that rush through the head of an MC who is trying to make it big in his local city, Lenzman does what he does best: rolling drums, some warm bass and some of the very best pianos. I will never get enough of this stuff. On the next track Old Times' Sake Lenzman is going back to instrumental goodness again. This time the emphasis is more on the piano, which smoothly loops along throughout the track. It's not always prominently featured though, at times it feels like it's coming from another room or apartment even. It reminds me of when my sister used to endlessly practice The Entertainer at my old parents home. The longer the album goes on the more the theme of family and remembering what is important in your life becomes apparent. For me at least.

Next up we've got Starlight featuring the excellent soothing vocals by Fox. What can I say, it's another extremely soulful relaxing piano-driven liquid track. It's probably my favourite style of liquid, but I feel like I'd just repeat myself if I mentioned how great the piano is or how much I like the vocals. It's Lenzman, of course it's going to have all that! Funny that I say that now, because the next track Yasukuni doesn't feature any of those elements at all. The signature piano is replaced by low bass melodies and some great atmospheric synths, while the signature rolling breakbeat drums keep pushing everything forward. This one feels like Lenzman is reminiscing about his visit to the Japanese shrine the track is named after. Not just because of the serene atmosphere, but also because of the various tourist crowd noises that can be heard throughout.

On Combo, a collaboration with Satl, Lenzman goes way deeper than before. Deep wubs, tribal-sounding drumwork, heavily echoing ominous melodies coming in left and right, in short: not the usual sound one would expect. Doesn't mean it's any less well-produced though. While not my favourite style by either of the featured artists, it's still a very interesting track that I enjoyed quite much. Speaking of darker and deeper vibes, next we've got the Jubei remix of the Lenzman classic Down For Whatever, from his debut TNQ album All For You. In proper Metalheadz-style fashion, Jubei delivers a gritty and dark reinterpretation of the more smooth original.

If you enjoy soulful liquid, this is a must-listen. Simply awesome album.

Other liquid things from this week:

Hybrid Minds, Grace Gundy - Bad To Me (<3333)
Etherwood - I Will Wave To You / Heterize _(<3333)-
Dennis Pedersen - Somewhere
Linguistics - Think Too Much
Skantia, Nectax - Providence (hard to classify this one)
Mista Trick, HypeMan Saga - Mr. Sandman
SOLR - All Of You EP 💎
Nuvertal - Ronin In The West EP

Since the last two tracks kinda fit that category, here's some great deep stuff from this week:

The Caracal Project, Skylark, LaMeduza - Quick Of Breath (<3333)
Framer - Crux 💎
Dedman - The Blue Note EP
Psynchro - Musicolors/Angara
Xtrah, Genic - HOLDING ON