Picks Of The Week (21.08.21

0. Fred V - Radiate LP [Hospital Records]

Recommended if you like: Logistics, Grafix, Hybrid Minds

I'm taking up this pre-review space to remind you of the great write-up of Fred V's new album by /u/huubidi! Want my own opinion? Alright: It's an excellently produced and thematically coherent piece of music full of Fred V's signature future bass-y style that I'll probably never get enough of. I probably would have written more, very positive words if we didn't already have a write-up. Go check both the album and the review out!

Before I get to the main course of today, I'll just leave a few more liquid recommendations for you:

Edlan - Towers EP
flowanastasia, Nymfo - River Flows
Various Artists - Nuggets 01
Sebastian Wing - Summit + Lush 💎
Black Barrel - Just Keep My Life LP
Sustance, Visages - I'll Be There

1. Dr. Apollo - The Simulation LP [ProgRAM]

Recommended if you like: Rohaan, Hyukari, Low:r

Welcome to this week's pills of the week!

We start this week off with a trip to Los Angeles in sunny California. You know, the one in America! Straight outta La-La Land, there's a certain up-and-comer that I've mentioned here and there, but that I've been dying to feature properly here: Dr. Apollo! And it's not just any old release by him, no no, it's his debut album The Simulation LP on RAM offshoot ProgRAM!

First things first though, how did we get here? Who is this mysterious, probably unlicensed, drum and bass doctor?

Okay: Dr. Apollo is the DnB moniker of young multi-faceted producer David Hiller. While he only put on his lab coat in 2019, there's a whole lot more history associated with him from way before that, so let's go digging. The first appearance in the musical spotlight was his work as the drummer in the hard rock band Rue Lynx, formed in 2009, which means he was around 15 or 16. Together with his band mates he quickly saw a lot of success in the L.A. area and festivals like Warped and Ventura. During this time he also got his first taste of the industry with some professional studio sessions at Capitol Records, subsidiary of Universal.

Then, EDC 2011 happened. He got his first "proper" taste of electronic music there, which pushed him to start producing his very own music in the genre. Starting in the same year, he started putting out all kinds of EDM as David Hiller. No matter what electronic subgenre, from Dubstep (it was the early 2010s after all) to Electro House to even a cheeky little bit of Drum & Bass here and there, David tried them all. His creative flexibility seems to have turned quite a few heads at the time, with notable career moments including a remix feature on the soundtrack of 2012 animated series TRON: Uprising and him winning the EDC Discovery Contest in 2012. Also, his track Atom Smasher was featured in a Usain Bolt commercial for Gatorade. Huh. Not bad, young David.

The following years it had gotten a little quiet around David. There's also a slight chance I just haven't found the alias he has been releasing under during those years yet, since there's been quite a few once he resurfaced. In 2017 he came back to the scene as Olymp.us, under which he kept the electronic spirit going until 2019. My subgenre knowledge fails me here, but a lot of it seems very Progressive House-y and maybe even Techno-y. In 2018 he recruited MC Dino to form the collaborative Drum & Bass project Follow The Sun! Even though it was a short-lived venture, the dynamic duo managed to release music on Insomniac Records, Bassrush Records and Divination Recordings!

Another year later, in early 2019, David rebranded himself once more and became Dr. Apollo. Not going to lie, with his pill emoji based social media game I'm slightly disappointed he didn't name himself David Piller. After his debut release Red (featuring Dip Vertigo) was featured on that year's annual Sick Music compilation on scene giant Hospital Records, the flood gates opened. What followed were release after release on labels like Viper Recordings, Renè LaVice's DeVice, Space Yacht and RAM Records. Not just that though, he also started regularly collaborating with Reid Speed, with multiple releases on both her labels Play Me Records and Play Me Too Records. While his main focus was certainly the drums and the basses, he was definitely not completely bound to it all of the time. Sometimes he ventured into Trap, sometimes he even merges DnB and other genres, like Tech House on his collaboration with LMNOP "I STOLE YOUR GIRL". Man, I love that tune.

You wanna know what else I love? This album! Due to time and energy constraints (man's gotta relax sometimes), I'll restrict myself to gushing about my 3 favourites of the album for a bit, but trust me, the whole thing is worth checking out. Don't believe me yet? Well, one thing I can tell you is that with most albums it's usually easy for me to choose my favourites, but it took me quite a bit to narrow down my three choices here. That honestly doesn't happen often, it's just all so good. Makes a lot of sense that none other than RAM sister label ProgRAM snatched this bad boy up, which makes Dr. Apollo the first American to release an album on the legendary label!

Let's start with Brooklyn. I mean, the closest I've been to Brooklyn is watching Brooklyn 99, so I assume I'll be missing some of the references in the sound design here. However, even with my limited knowledge of the place, the jazzy subway station saxophone freestyling, the funky unique piano melody and not to forget the distant police sirens and radio chatter sound effects all do their part in making me feel like I'm right there. Even the transition from buildup to drop, which introduces a little bit of scratching action and a vocal sample that feels distinctly Hiphop, fits my TV-based world view of Brooklyn perfectly.

Our medical practicioner didn't stop at a great introductory atmosphere though, he also stomped out a banger of a drop here! With a funky synth rhythm that is both super fun to jam out too and also extremely uniquely produced, Dr. Apollo really stuck the landing perfectly here. That whole call and response between the more subdued uniquely bubbling synth melody and the constantly changing more bass heavy jingle just grabs your attention by its neck and doesn't let go until the 6 minute runtime is over. Heavy, yet fun, with impeccable sound design that is both chock-full of references to the titular metropolis and still manages to sound modern as hell.

Next up, Gold! I couldn't have thought of a more fitting title even if I tried. Together with fellow Los Angelesian Bzrkr on vocal duties, who you might remember from Can't Stop, Apollo's collab with Richter, the US ambassador really crafted something extremely lovely here. As we enter this track's realm we're greeted with some very syncopated drum loops and a dreamy piano preparing us for what's to come. Once both come to a stop, Bzrkr's angelic voice puts the listener into a dream-like state. Well, that's what it was like for me at least. The longer we're lulled in by his vocal performance, the more elements come back, first the Xylophone (?), then the now more straight-forward drums, then the drop.

Okay I need to fanboi about this drop for a bit, bear with me. On top of the Jump Up rhythm Dr. Apollo unleashes a flurry of straight-up beautiful synths, interlaced with snippets of Bzrkr's amazing vocal performance. I can't even properly describe how satisfying these synths are, in every way imaginable. The structure of how all the tiny parts come together, the way the melody progresses throughout the drop, the way it quickly switches back and forth between the quick-firing melody and the relatively slow one and, not to forget, the sheer beauty of how they have been produced. Even after the umpteenth relisten I still get this tingly feeling in my ears once the drop hits. I can't overstate how much I love this one.

Last but obviously not least, I want to talk about Waves, which also features the lovely vocals of Bzrkr. Similarly to Gold the track starts off with a very dreamy atmosphere, with most elements seeming far away, like you're sitting at the shore and hear the music coming from a few miles away. The only thing really close to us are the breaky drums, that is, until Brzkr blesses us with another angelic vocal performance and everything else is moved to the background. Right before we completely drift away, the drop hits us with its full power. With yet another symphony of beautiful synths, perfectly intertwined with each other, Dr. Apollo takes the listener on a journey into the future.

I realise this paragraph pretty much sounds like it's Gold 2.0, and in a way it kind of is. However, Waves is much more relaxed and dreamy compared to its predecessor. While the arrangement in the drop also consists of a mix of multiple melodies each filling in the spaces of the others, it's executed in a much more tranquil way, for lack of a better word. Gold makes me want to get up and jump around, while Waves makes me want to close my eyes and let the track carry me away. They're kind of two sides of the same, awesome coin.

The rest of the album is just as interesting though! Each track has its own style, while still falling into this retro-futuristic aesthetic that has been expertly crafted for this record. Whether it's the more old-school flavoured Holy Grail (which is an excellent introduction into the album by the way) or Mo90s, the more subdued, deeper spins on the theme like Pray For Love and Operation Prosecco (best track name), or the more uplifting, melodic tracks like Glowing In The Dark and In Color, Dr. Apollo simply never missed once here. For completeness sake: If I hadn't talked about In Color in a previous review before I would have talked way more about it. I love that tune to death. It even ended up in my Best Of playlist of last year!

In summary, we've got an album on our hands that is as uniquely produced as it is musically pleasing, all throughout. Might be one of my favourites of the year actually. Doctor simply knows what's best.

Its hard to recommend similar things, as the whole thing is rather unique. So here's a list of some uplifting DnB from this week that I loved:

Maduk, Lexurus, RIENK - New Beginning
Koven - Say What You Want
Tall Order (UK) - Can't Breathe
Nic ZigZag - Pocket Rocket 💎
Subshock & Evangelos - Next To You

Wait, still got a small list of sources to share! It's not a whole lot, but maybe someone will care: