Picks Of The Week (26.06.21

1. Two - Lifeline 💎[Lexikon Studios]

Recommended if you like: Fred V, Polyrom, Dr. Apollo

Time for some vibes!

My first pick comes from a completely new face to the scene: Two. As this is their literal first release (at least as Two, but more on that later), this is also my Hidden Gem Of The Week™. As you could probably guess from their name, Two is a duo. Shocking, I know! They consist of Oli Frost and Lorenzo Morandi, with Oli taking over vocal duties while Lorenzo is responsible for the sick beats behind them. I think. They're both so musically multi-faceted it could go either way to be honest. To illustrate what I mean by that, let's take a look at their lives before this new DnB project, starting with Lorenzo.

Lorenzo Morandi is a guitarist, videographer and general Italian based in Loughborough, UK. At least a few years ago, maybe he moved by now. Just going off random bits and pieces I found online here. His online musical career started in 2011 with various guitar covers on his old YouTube channel. Shortly after that, in 2012, he briefly joined the guitar trio CarlosTheManager, but I'm not entirely sure how long since the only evidence I could find of that is a Bombay Bicycle Club cover on YouTube. Either way, he soon joined another band called Fear The Worst around 2015. However, the biggest band he has been a part of has got to be FourPointOh, which is where he first worked with Oli Frost. I mean, maybe they knew each other before that, but I think I've made it clear that I have very little info to work with here, so inaccuracies are pretty much guaranteed at this point. Anyway. So what about Oli Frost then?

Oli is a Leicester-based multi-instrumentalist-slash-vocalist. He started playing the guitar when he was in primary school and from there on the musicality never really stopped. Over the years he also got into playing the drums and even piano for a little bit. Around 2011, i.e. when he was merely 15, he and three of his mates founded the aforementioned FourPointOh, with him as the drummer and sometimes keyboard guy, maybe even as a singer. Over the years the group has played at various events around the Leicester area and even went to Glastonbudget festival in 2015 and 2016. The rocky quartet was expanded by Mr Olly Evans in mid 2014 and then once more in 2015 when Lorenzo joined.

While it might have gotten a little quieter around FourPointOh somewhere between 2016 and 2017, Lorenzo and Oli never really stopped working together. With Lorenzo on the guitar and Oli on the sometimes-singing-sometimes-rapping vocals, the duo worked on tune after tune, sometimes under their Escape Route alias, sometimes just as Lorenzo and Oli. On his own, Lorenzo kept branching off into various other creative ventures, from Acoustic and Electric guitar lessons, to pedal loop stuff, to even some comedy skits and impressions. In April 2020 his first DnB track, Breather, surfaced on his SoundCloud, but since then it has been quiet on the DnB front.

Which brings us to their debut DnB release: Lifeline!

I've listened to a lot of debut releases over the last few years and I can confidently say that Lifeline is way up there as one of the better ones I've come across, even when you include "established artists rebranding themselves" in that group. It's the perfect soundtrack for this lush mid-summer, not quite sweaty but also not too freezing, weather right now. Oli's vibey yet extremely catchy vocals, the summery-slash-funky synth chords synced to the rolling drums, the little extra melodies and the background piano during the second buildup. It's vibes upon vibes upon vibes, all neatly wrapped up into 3 and a half very repeat-worthy minutes.

There's no Two ways about this: This is a truly excellent debut release. Two thumbs up. Man, I really thought I could squeeze more than Two puns out of their name.

Not super easy to recommend actually related stuff here, so I'll just go with the usual liquid/uplifting dancefloor, starting with Dancefloor:

Changing Faces, Lottie Woodward - Surrender
TwoThirds - Forever Summer - 2013
Dimibo, Lydian - Die For
Fred V, Millbrook - Poison

As promised, some great Liquid from this week:

Various Artists - Summer 2021 Deluxe Edition [Four Corners] (that Matec Remix tho)
Dustkey, Sinne - Take A Moment
Pola & Bryson, SOLAH - Neverend
Winslow, Pete Simpson - Everything & More
Fox - Squang Dangs In The Key Of Vibes LP
Terror, Sam Calver - Gold
Beat Merchants, T.R.A.C - Back On My Griz
Sl8r, Slay - Danger / Falling
In:Most - Cloud Nine EP
Note - Things Fall Apart

2. Hillsdom - I Wonder / Igloo [ProgRAM]

Recommended if you like: IMANU, Zombie Cats (their recent techy stuff), Rohaan

Seems like we've entered vibe central today. I guess that happens when my body is still recovering from one of my first raves of the year.

This time we've got not just any kind of vibes though, we've got the special Hillsdom-brand today! If you don't remember them from the last review, here's the short run-down: Producer duo Jake Hicks and Jack Pike from Essex, the part of UK that barely has any hills. But maybe it has a few doms, I am not familiar enough with the people there to really judge that here. Together, the two Jacobs derivatives have been working on drum and bass productions since 2014 and gracing the scene with their honestly really unique approach to production since 2017 on labels like Viper Recordings, Pilot Records, and eventually RAM Records and it's sister label ProgRAM. Hey, I recognize that last one from the headline, that's where this double single is released on too!

The aforementioned double single kicks off with I Wonder, the first DnB track I know of that prominently features a music box toy melody. That might make it sound like I Wonder is going to be a dreamy little liquid tune, but Hillsdom got a few more unique tricks up their sleeves. After the clappy buildup snares lead us away from the sweet music box, a vocal that has been thrown into various different blenders and probably even a wood chipper comes in and lets you know: Nope, this is going a different route. With a few deep growls here and there and some shuffling drums providing background contrast, the choppy vocals are then intermixed with the music box again, creating a really weird happy-but-also-sinister-kinda vibe that you never quite know how to place. Which is a good thing, by the way. I would never say formulaic stuff is inherently bad, there's usually a reason why it has become a formula in the first place. But having someone like Hillsdom come along and throw in their own unique ideas and vibe combinations into the mix often leads to really memorable tracks.

Alright, let's talk about the second single too: Igloo. It starts off with some beautiful but also slightly ominous piano chords, which come to think of it might as well also be the overall theme of this track. After this introduction into that beautifully ominous atmosphere, the track takes a turn towards the new school of thought in the neurofunk and deep spheres: strangely beautiful, heavily processed vocal choppages injected with loads of otherworldly atmosphere, all with that Hillsdom-y flair to it. While they were happy with jumping back and forth between the choppy newschool styles and the more atmospheric, rolling vibes for the first drop, they decided to switch it up a little for the second drop. The choppy melody relentlessly bashes into your brain in 16th notes, only interrupted by the occasional Think Break yay, before it returns to the structure of the first half again.

Another great double single by the Jacque's with some really unique, rolling, techy vibes. What more could you ask for?

Other deep and techy stuff from this week:

Samath - Heka EP 💎
Evolved - Slow Motion EP 💎
Moonaddict - Shut The Door LP 💎
AM94, Ariana - The Groove 💎
Snowtek & Ferice - Let Me Go EP 💎