Picks Of The Week (12.06.21

1. AL/SO, High Maintenance - Hypersonic Remixed [Korsakov Music]

Recommended if you like: Listening to bangers

Goddamnit, Korsakov? Again?! Oh well, Here We Go Again I guess.

Well, what can I do. They just keep releasing some of the greatest Dancefloor/Neuro/Simply Banging™️ dnb out there. This release is ridiculous even for their standards though. You remember AL/SO from a few weeks ago, right? Well, last year he released one of my favourite EPs of the year, the Hypersonic EP with High Maintenance. Now he got some of the best remixers in the DnB scene together to put their own spin on it!

Since this is a remix EP I'll only quickly glance over who High Maintenance is, but knowing the quality of his output there surely will be a release of his, for which I can delve a little deeper into his history. Anyway: High Maintenance, also known as James Smith, has been around since 2009! With early support by John B, he quickly managed to score signings with Disaszt's Mainframe Records and Shimon's Audioporn Records, where he has been a regular ever since. Some of you might know him from his huge remixes for MUZZ, Dub FX or Dirtyphonics, but some of you might also know him from his amazingly produced 2020 livestream. Since 2018 he's become part of the Korsakov family and well, we've pretty much arrived at today!

Let's start with the Hypersonic remixes. The first remix comes from Korsakov shooting star Sovryn, who you might remember from one of my previous reviews. If not, well, you better check that out now then! Sovryn takes the already heavy original and amplifies its energy with his very own Sovryn sound. Full of face-mangling screeches and various other little details. Unlike some of the following remixes, it doesn't stray too far from the original. In that way it kind of feels like a version from a parallel universe, where AL/SO didn't produce the EP with High Maintenance, but with Sovryn.

The second remixer of this absolute banger is none other than Korsakov shooting stars PRFCT Mandem! Oh wait, I already used that phrase didn't I? It fits too well to use something else, allow it. The Latvian/Irish duo Jev and Aisling are not just the most fun DJs to watch live, they are also some of the most unique producers around. They are easily one of my favourite newcomers from last year and yes I'm still upset they didn't get nominated for more newcomer awards. Anyway. Just as expected, the dance duo twisted the original around so much it's become a whole different, PRFCT, tune. Everything from the original is still there, but it has been transformed into this extremely cheeky 4x4 techy version of itself that would confuse the hell out of me at a rave, in a good way. After the first drop drilled itself into your head, the second drop is a bit more subdued with some more minimal 4x4 business, while still switching and changing around all the time. Man, all dem little variations are just PRFCT.

Now for something I'd love to do once lockdown is truly over: Party Every Day.

The first of two remixes of the 16th notes massacre comes from none other than Korsakov (don't say shooting star, don't say shooting star) uhmmm regular Droptek. This mostly drum and bass alias of electronic producer Lewis Munns has been used by him to release some of the most creative productions out there. Sometimes his earlier Dubstep and Hiphop influences shine through, sometimes it's just straight-up experimental DnB, while always keeping the musicality alive. He channeled this multi-genre spirit into his remix by somehow making the already fast original feel even faster by underlying the 16ths with some 4x4 drums. When I first heard this Psytrance-esque wave of drums and quick-firing sounds I didn't even know how to cope. It's pure madness. Even when it returns to the more standard dnb drum pattern its madness levels don't go down one bit. The tempo switches aren't over yet though, Droptek starts the second half of the remix by going into half-time territory, probably to give us some time to catch our breath for the last little bit of drilling Psy he hits us with for the track's climax.

The second remix comes from Best DnB Remix of 2020 winner (in my very own year review) and in my opinion easily one of Neurofunk's and even DnB's finest producers around: Joe Ford! Since the "gotta go fast" approach had already been taken by Droptek, Joe Ford decided to go a completely different route. He took all the main ingredients, the 16ths, vocal sample and the melody, and rearranged them into what feels like a whole new tune. He spiced up these ingredients with his unmistakenable unique and impeccable sound design, created whole new rhythms and melodies, and just all-around went nuts on it.

Alright, we've got one more tune: Here We Go Again! And boy, do the remixes of this one slap.

The first remix comes from the fake Canadian Mr. Hoffmann himself, Toronto Is Broken! I don't think we need to go over who he is again, do we? If you really want to learn more about the YANA Music label owner, I've got the perfect review for you here! The Metal and Djent enthusiast transformed the Cowbell-laden original into a kind of hybrid between Gunfingers and his Holy Roller bootleg. Two tracks of his I absolutely adore. Safe to say, the end result slaps so much, Toronto now isn't the only thing that's completely and utterly broken anymore. It's me, I'm the other broken thing. Mostly because even in this suffocating heat, the contrast between the "slowing-down" pewpew's and the faster "rising" response just gets me moving. Honestly, even if I'm super tired, that response will slap me awake. Speaking of slowing down. As if this wasn't fire enough already, Mr. Hoffmann went another twenty steps on the banger scale further by slowing the tempo down until we've arrived in (Bass?) House territory. I definitely wasn't ready for that switchup. There's gotta be some law against that, that can't be legal.

The second Here We Go Again remix comes from Estonian-Lithuanian trio Mean Teeth. Their last remix on Korsakov, in which they managed to turn Droptek's atmospheric intro tune Expanse into a certified banger, sits firmly in my list of the best DnB remixes of 2020, in other words: I had great expectations of their take on the Cowbell anthem. Spoiler: they exceeded those expectations. After listening to the Toronto Is Broken take on the original, I talked with a good friend about it and, to quote him, "how do you make a remix of that track without any cowbell, that's its whole thing". Mean Teeth seemed to share that sentiment, because they went all the way in with the cowbells and I'm so here for it. Especially that little symphony of bells in the second half of the drop is just perfect. Together with the Mean-Teeth-ified big phat bass, this remix is just a delight to listen to.

What an EP. I'd even go so far as to say: This is one of the best EPs of the year. After the insanely good Droptek remix album samplers, I've come to expect great things from Korsakov remix project, but damn. Every single one involved smashed the hell out of their remixes.

Other fun heavy dancefloor and neurofunk things from this week:

VovKING - Carburetor
Bare Up, Harry Shotta - Not Slipping / Bloom
Flowidus, Amy Maynard - Delirium
Corrupted Mind - Liondub Street Series, Vol. 60: Focus
Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At (1991 Remix)
Madface - Escape
OkregLucky - Artist's Mind
Swayed - Disruption 💎

2. tunnl vision - Uprising EP 💎 [ProgRAM]

Recommended if you like: Misanthrop, Annix, Kanine

Time to relax a little bit after all that carnage. Just a little bit though.

My second pick for this week, which is also this week's Hidden Gem™, is tunnl vision's debut EP Uprising! While tunnl vision themselves are still a very fresh name, there's some serious experience behind this new project. This Estonian duo consists of Martin Modestov, also known as the producer Modest Intentions, and Boris Pavlov, also known under his multi-genre DJ alias Rumble Bee. Under his solo alias, Martin has been releasing dreamy liquid since way back in 2010, gaining the attention of labels like Celsius Recordings, Soul Deep Digital and most notably, Galacy Records, Liquicity's liquid-focused sister label. Around 2017 Boris started tearing up dancefloors all over the place under his Rumble Bee alias, but he has been involved in the DnB scene even longer than that. He even participated in a DnB step contest! A little bit after that, Martin and Boris started working at the same company for a while, a time during which they quickly became good friends and, after learning of their shared love for DnB, eventually became partners in crime. Together they formed Imaginary Friends in 2019, with releases on Fokuz Recordings and Citrus Recordings. Due to, well, everything in the last year, they paused their productions for a little bit and decided to rebrand themselves as tunnl vision towards the end of 2020. After debuting this new alias on RAM Records' massive end-of-year compilation and another release on Zombie Recordings, they are now ready for their debut EP on RAM's sister label ProgRAM! One last fun fact before we talk about the music: they also host the bi-weekly Estonian dnb podcast Grindtape!

While I love to babble on about artist's backgrounds and stuff, I think it's time to talk about the EP now!

Right from the get-go, the Uprising EP provides us with some really uniquely sounding vibes. On the EP opener Matrix the duo delve deep into the sound of what I like to call "atmospheric jump up". It's got the same two-step rhythm and relatively hard-hitting snares of your typical stepper-type track, but at the same time it would be a great addition to the dnb to relax/study to playlist. This vibe is very much continued on the followup Moondust, where we not only got some great vocal choppage going on, but also some even more beautifully ominous synthwork. Especially those synths that come in halfway through the drops are simply great.

Next up we've got Speedhack, which, as you can guess from the name, goes a little faster than its predecessors. Not just that, it also goes considerably deeper, thanks to some wonderfully wonky bassy stabs. For the 4x4 lovers of you out there, you might enjoy most of the second drop, as the duo switches the drums a little bit there, before returning to the business-as-usual drums at the very end. Last but absolutely not least we've got the title track Uprising, which single-handidly pushed me to write this review in the first place. Not that the other tracks aren't great either, but this one is just exactly my type of track in that subgenre. It's a goosebumps-inducing journey of a track whose melodies ebb and flow so masterfully that you simply can't help but close your eyes and smile. I honestly can't overstate how much I love those synths. It's beautiful in every single way, if you only have time for one track, make it this one. And listen to it from start to finish, trust me. You don't wanna miss that heavenly second drop.

All in all, some great uniquely produced vibes all throughout, with one of the greatest EP closing tunes ever. Well, in my memory at least.

Other liquid and deep things from this week:

Pendulum, Hybrid Minds - Louder Than Words (<3333)
Sektor & Subsequent, V O E - Run From The Sun (<3333)
Cartoon, Nublu, gameboy tetris - Biology
Technimatic - Lightwave
Safire, DRS - Holding On
S.P.Y - I've Been Missing You
Rei - The Reimixes, Vol. 3 💎
Various Artists - Summer 2021 - Part 1 - The Beach
AWG - Believe In Me 💎