Picks Of The Week (01.01.22

1. IMANU, The Caracal Project - Neiges / La Fournaise (feat. josh pan) [Critical Music]

Recommended if you like: Grey Code, Buunshin, gyrofield

HappI(MA)NU year everyone!

These two barely need an introduction, but since I don't know how else to start this, I'll still give them a short one. I need to fanboi a little bit before I can talk about this new release, okay? Both IMANU, aka Jonathan Kievit aka the artist formerly named after a toothpaste brand, and The Caracal Project, aka Félix Burnod aka Félix Burnod & Maxime Engel aka one part of moonlink, are undeniably at the forefront of drum & bass and electronic music in general. That was a true statement when they were completely new to the scene, but it has become even truer (no I'm not gonna google if that's a word) in these last few years.

Jonathan was already doing amazing work as Signal, but ever since he rebranded himself and embraced his inner crossgenre e-boy, his output has become ridiculously good. There's not many people that can hold a candle to the extremely clean production and sheer creativity that can be found in literally everything IMANU does. Even when we're just looking at his DnB output, for example A Taste Of Hope, Parallels or his Formula Remix, I'd say he's one of the best producers out there right now, but the cheeky bugger keeps putting his 10/10 production stamp on tunes of all kinds of other genres too. House, Trap, Dubstep, Halftime, Sea Shanties, everything he touches turns to gold. That I'm Fine remix, that HYPRESSION collab, it's getting ridiculous really. Not to mention that he is at least partially responsible (alongside Buunshin and Camo & Krooked & Mefjus) for the recent resurgence of 4x4 DnB.

However, The Caracal Project's recent output has been of a similarly high caliber (more like Caracaliber am i right). Just like with IMANU, you never know what you're gonna get with a release from Félix. Sometimes it's amazingly creative DnB like the Flamenco-inspired Watercats, his funky-fresh take on Set It Off or the masterpiece that is the It's about time we run into you EP with Skylark (which I covered last year), sometimes it's equally creative Dubstep like Te Vi Caer and Gaspin 4 Air or even Bass House like the wonderful My Eyes. What you do know however, is that it will always be extremely uniquely produced and oozing with that signature sound and style that only he knows how to create. If only he performed his incredible music on a bike.

Now these two behemoths of creativity come together for a two-tracker on none other than the one and only Critical Music, Kasra's label. While the track titles themselves are already quite fitting for the strangely sick combination of sound, with the cold-blooded stair tumbler being called Neiges (snow) and the absolute heater of a second track featuring josh pan's firey vocals being called La Fournaise (the furnace), that's not really the reason. This special meeting of futuristic styles is actually named after the two volcanoes that formed the Réunion island, (Piton des) Neiges and (Piton de) La Fournaise. Why Réunion specifically? Well, not only is that where IMANU was born and raised for a few years before his family moved to the Netherlands, Félix' also has a few relatives there, which he visited as a child. An oddly specific coincidence linking the two in a time way before they knew each other. But yeah, the tunes are also hot like lava.

No, really, this release is incredible. When I first heard Neiges on IMANU's Instagram story about his appearance at Printworks, I didn't even really know how to react. To the rhythm of a wild flurry of syncopated breaks, the duo throws one wtf moment after another at us. It goes back and forth between the Hold Me sample going on a rollercoaster of octaves together with two wildly heavy bass stabs and the aforementioned chaotically distorted synth tumbling down a flight of stairs. Hold me was my first reaction too, honestly. In the second half the synths are not tumbling down anymore, but striking back with an absurdly high energy that is sure to contort the face of everyone who's listening. I know it was kind of a given with these two, but they really something extremely unique here.

On the flipside we've got La Fournaise, something to calm us down after the assault of our senses that was Neiges (in a good way). For this one Mr josh pan, who you might remember from Supersonic, lends his silky smooth vocals that, on top of the instrumental consisting of lovely meandering breaks and a uniquely violin-esque synth guiding us through the wubs, gives the listener a real sense of melancholy. It do be crazy, Mr pan. Throughout the drop, however, the arrangement experiences countless mutations in the form of additional melodies coming in left and right and the return of a small bit of stair tumblin'. At some point even some signature IMANU vocal chops come in and burst this whole thing wide open. Not to mention the heavily distorted jungle-esque sounds like the good old siren fx making an appearance. This track is one hell of a journey is what I'm trying to say.

I know the year is still very young and it doesn't really mean anything yet, but this release will most definitely be one of the best of 2022. I'd love to be wrong though, because that would mean we'd have an insane year ahead of us.

Other deep/dark/techy things from this week:

Various Artists - We Are Incurzion Vol. 2 LP
Tom Finster - Lights
Various Artists - X4 [Flexout Audio]
Noizesplitter - Nectar 💎
Maykors - Continuum 💎

2. Blooom - Rewrite EP [Liquicity Records]

Recommended if you like: SØL, Fox Stevenson, Cardy B

This week also saw the release of one my most-anticipated things for this year: new music from Blooom! Not just any old single though, a whole EP! 2022 really isn't kidding around so far.

I've already covered Blooom a little bit a few weeks ago, when talking about his contribution to the recent High Tea compilation, but when something this creative and fun comes along, I just can't help but talk about him again. I promise I got some more fun background info about him this time though!

Blooom, also known as Michael Schlechtinger (something for the Germans: he should rename himself legally to Michael Gut-inger after this EP), is a Mannheim-based multi-genre producer in the truest sense of the word. If you scroll through his SoundCloud, or go through his older output under his old i'Maextro alias, you'll find any- and everything electronic. While he has had smashing DnB releases on labels like Liquicity and High Tea, you might have also heard about him through his wildly successful NCS releases or from his winning remix for the Koven remix competition on Monstercat last year.

You might (very big might) also know him from his computer science research at the Mannheim University! Okay the possibility is pretty much non-existant, I'm only mentioning this, because I found out that he authored a paper called "Investigating the Relationship Between Human Faces and Music’s Success", in which he analysed whether a profile picture containing a face positively influences a musician's success on SoundCloud or not. Honestly interesting stuff!

Alright, but we're here for the music aren't we? Well, let's talk about that then. DnB has always been a very creative genre in my eyes, nearly every genre of music, whether it's jazz, techno or house, has been incorporated in some way or form into the 170s, with some even spawning their own subgenres in the process. I hadn't seen much R&B in DnB yet though. Emphasis on the past tense there, because of course Blooom just kicked down the door doing exactly that on the title track Rewrite. I know, he had experimented with that kind of vibe on his 2018 Cardi B remix already, however, this is some next level stuff right here.

Just in the intro Blooom already blesses us with so many details that it's hard to even mention them all without breaking the character limit. The half-time rhythm isn't just heavy-hitting, it also sounds like someone's clapping along to the beat, a Flamenco-esque sound reinforced even more by the wonderful little background synths. My absolute favourite thing in this intro however is how much he is playing around with the (once again) incredibly fun R&B-esque vocals by Synga. From that crackling old-timey radio filter effect, to that little rising effect that I wish I could describe in better words, to the little adlibs to emphasize her lyrics even more ("come on!"), to the vocal chops moving around in 3D, to the absolutely fantastic layering of vocals the closer we get to the drop, it's absolutely clear that Blooom is having a blast. And so am I! He then tops this fun journey off with the firework tornado of delightful guitars, heavy-weight brass-y basses and various trumpets that is the drop. For the people with a very short attention span there's also Radio Edit at the end of the EP!

Mo-mo-moving on to the next track Your Love, which was released a few day in advance and has since then come dangerously close to the 100 listens mark in my statistics. It is so fun. Yet again the vocal processing work is simply impeccable, especially the way the your love, your love, your love is chopped up and moving left, right, left, right, left in the auditory space is just perfect. Not only does that make for one hell of a fun buildup, Blooom uses that special power of his to create one amazingly energetic drop too! In a turbulent call-and-response he goes from powerful synth stabs, which I suspect were also created from the vocals, piercing right through to your heart with each beat to a whirlwind of vocal choppage hitting you with break-neck speed. After the first switchup the drums keep the incredibly fast pace steady, while the vocals just battle it out against each other head-to-head with some roaring basses underneath. Did I mention that literally everything is clean as hell? If yes, it deserves another mention, I don't care.

Last but not least we've got one more Blooomtastic anthem: Heartbreak, with the wonderful Synga returning as a vocalist! While this one might not be as rhythmically unique as Rewrite, it sure as hell is still just as creative with its production. I was just about to describe a few of these again, but the more I listened to just the intro, the more little details I found. Countless little voice-like synths, some stutteringly rising in their pitch, some deep voices providing extra punch to Synga's main vocals, some just cropping up just a tiny bit in the background. Then there's all the fun xylophones doing their thing! And that's just in like 20 seconds of runtime. Of course he doesn't just stop there though, the drop is once again full of catchy surprises and annoyingly clean in its production. This damn Blooom and his amazing skills!

I feel like I'm throwing this phrase around willy-nilly this week, but this is most definitely gonna be one of this year's finest releases. What else can I do when two releases of this calibre come along in the same week?

Some of the cleanest, most unique production you'll hear this year. Well, until the next Blooom release comes along.

Other fun/dancefloor things from this week:

Volant, Luna Lenta - Unending Light (from the Imprint For Charity LP)
Jimi Needles - Missing Sombrero 💎
Radius, Erin G - Intentions