Picks Of The Week (15.10.22

Got another different spin on the usual reviews for you today. Instead of talking about one to three releases from this past week, I want to talk about three releases that have been released all throughout October. Why? Because they are all part of a big collaborative effort from three different corners of the German DnB scene, uniting under one shared banner. Quite fitting for the month that started with the Day Of German Unity, I must say. While the artists featured on here are gathered from all over the world, this is still very much an effort to strengthen the local scene. To further highlight this, the "Recommended if you like" will be replaced by a "Similar German Artist" list for this week. Also, I'll start with the label's story instead of the artist's for each of these. But first...

0. Justin Hawkes - Existential LP [Pilot]

Similarly Uplifting Yet Sad And Techy German Artists: Blooom, Tom Finster, Hyukari

As always when I do one of these long-form reviews, I simply want to remind you that a new one exists here. So if you want to read a whole bunch of stuff about Justin Hawkes and his debut album Existential, go check the review out here.

Alright, let's get back to the German theme thingy!

1. VovKING - Chase [EPO22 Music Tales]

Similarly Futuristic German Artists: Misanthrop, NOVALU, sastruga

After gathering experience in the scene as a DJ for over two and a half decades, Mario Porst, also known as DJ Giant, but nowadays going by GIANT22, decided to switch it up a little. Not only did he start producing his own music, merging futuristic ideas with old-school jungle flavours, he wanted to go even further. He wanted to share his creations with the world, while still maintaining full control over his creative vision. You know what that calls for: a label! That's how EPO22 Music Tales came to be founded, on 22.02.2022. Did you really think, even for a second, that he would let this golden opportunity pass? What started with a couple of releases from its founder, is now big enough to also feature international talents like Evolved, Dunk and even VovKING, less than a year later!

That VovKING release? Yep, that's exactly what we're talking about today. But first, let's talk about the who behind the release.

Hailing from Vyhoda in war-torn Ukraine, Volodymyr Beichak has not only been making plates spin since 2007, but also heads with his unique approach to music production since around 2010. According to his various bios, he was also a star of many movies as Malcolm Sex, but... let's focus on the music for now. During a time of a lot of experimentation, trying his hands at every kind of Electro there is, from Electro House to Electro Breaks to Electro Disco, and the big genres of the time, Dubstep and Trap, he reached out to Anatoly Topolsky, to get feedback on a tune of his. For those not familiar with him, Anatoly is basically one of the OGs of the Ukrainian scene. As one of the very first DnB promoters there, he had a hand in basically all of the big DnB events in their scene. After exchanging messages for a bit, they decided to work together on a tune, a Dubstep remix for a rather big Ukrainian band, Skryabin. Safe to say, it blew up. The following years they continued working together, showing the world, among many other things, what the Skype ringtone would sound like when transported into the world of Dubstep and Moombahton. In 2015 they briefly ventured out from these types of sounds, with their first DnB collaboration, I Feel You, but it took another few years for them to commit to producing more of it. It simply took a while for them to find their own niche. However, once they did, they were all-in!

2017 saw them debuting their take on the genre, Future Drum and Bass, as they called it, on RAM sister label ProgRAM. From there on, their careers started flying off the handle, with them showcasing their unique ideas on Mainframe, Technique, High Tea, Bad Taste, Viper and Rampage. While this collaborative effort worked excellently for quite some time, it was time for them to go their own separate ways in 2020. After debuting his solo sound with his rather large remix for Murdock's anthem Can't Keep Me Down, VovKING expanded his label catalogue even further, with his first appearance on Friction & K-Tee's Elevate. 2020 also saw him returning to his multi-genre roots, with his new alias for more Future-House-y experiments, The Wooyko. As VovKING, he even appeared on Tchami's Confession earlier this month! But we're not here for that, we're here for some good ol' Future DnB, so let's (finally) talk about Chase.

Right away VovKING kicks things off with a rather ominous atmosphere, further improved in moodiness by a heavily processed vocal sample. All of these so thick you could cut them vibes lead us straight into a maximalistically minimalistic drop, in which he pits a short synth sequence against a more bass-oriented opponent, with the vocal sample interjecting every now and then. Over the course of the drop, both the bass and the synth sides of this call and response are amplified in their power tenfold, before the vibes take back over. It doesn't stop there though, the second half has plenty of variations upon this formula in store for us, especially in the drums department.

In short, Volodymyr once again effortlessly showed us why he is the Vov-KING here.

Other techy things from this week:

Moksi, Jonathan. - Skinny Dippin' (Buunshin Remix)
Moytra, Sign - Just Forget Everything 💎

2. Objectiv - Village [T3K Recordings]

Similarly Deep'n'Dark German Artists: Matec, HVZY, Silentium

Behind the scenes of our next release here we've got another veteran of the German scene, Kaiza! As an enthusiastic raver from the 90s turned passionate DJ, producer and label-head, Mannheim-based Florian Kaizer has brought a lot to the table over the years. After spending a couple of years as part of the Tilt Recordings team in the 2000s, he already knew that this label thing was for him, but he simply wasn't happy with how little effect he had on the bigger decisions for the label. Yep, you guessed it, he founded his own label instead: T3K Recordings! Since being created way back in 2009, T3K has had a hand in the careers of artists from all over the scene. Not only were they early stepping stones for now legendary artists like Mefjus (!) and Forbidden Society, they were also involved in early releases of underground talents like Slwdwn, Manta, OaT, Screamarts, Wingz, Sl8r, Phonetick, Low:r and Esym, among Kaiza's own releases with Xeomi and Humanon and many, many other artists. They even dove into Half-Time for quite some time!

As ambassador for the deep and dark parts of the spectrum in this project, T3K reached out to none other than Felix Hulbert, better known as Objectiv, for a contribution and, of course, he delivered. Shaped by the unique experience of being born deaf and only having his hearing restored at age 5, the Bristol-based talent has been composing dancefloor-destroying deep'n'darkness and stunningly soulful soothers since around 2017. From early beginnings on Ominous and Fragmented, he worked his way through the underground, eventually leading to releases on Lifestyle and its successor Overview, Flexout, 31 Recordings, Ekou, Dispatch, Vandal and way too many other ones to list them all. Since 2020 he is also part of the saucy supergroup OCC, together with Jappa, Lupo and Teej, with an even bigger focus on the steppy parts of his repertoire.

Today we'll be talking about a different side of his sound though. On his banging entry for the project, Village, Objectiv went into a more minimalistic direction. After building up some straight-up vibes with some wonderful synth work, we are plunged right into the deepest depths Objectiv could find. Not only is the ever-accelerating riser from the intro getting transposed down a few hundred octaves, resulting in the fastest wobble I've heard in quite some time, we are also treated to some truly strange snare sound design. Soon enough, however, things start escalating. Our cheeky wobble moves up and down the melodic ladder, while these dramatic synth stabs come out to haunt our dreams. We manage to fight the synths off and contain the wobble, but that just leads to the drums becoming more erratic and before we know it, the wobble is right back at it again, now higher-pitched than ever.

While only around two and a half minutes long, Village is so chock-full of interesting variations resulting in an incredibly satisfying progression that it never feels that short. One of Objectiv's most unique tracks for sure.

Other deep'n'dark things from this week:

LaMeduza, GROUND - Terra (<3)
Skylark - ESPADA
CELO - Technoid EP
HVZY - Night Walk 💎
Aaron Payne, RMS - Every Time I See EP
Revaux - Mamba EP
Dapreme - Adaptation

3. Agressor Bunx - Supersonic [Hanzom Music]

Similarly Neurofunk-y German Artists: Zombie Cats, Smeerlapp, Highthere

Last but most definitely not least, Hanzom Music! Okay, this one I probably won't have to explain. I mean, I'm now at review number 9 of these Cologne-based bad boys. Don't believe me? Well, here you go, have all of them. Fun fact: In 5 of these, I have included some sort of "i have absolutely featured them too many times by now" quip! Anyway. So, what or rather who does the best Neurofunk label in Germany bring to the project? None other than Ukrainian duo Agressor Bunx! So let's talk about them a little bit, shall we?

Consisting of the two brothers Mykola and Alex Viunytskyi, the almost aggrevatingly prolific bunch have been creating music together since way back in 2009. After a couple of years of doing it for fun, with abundant (or should I say abunxdant?) releases on Neuropunk-predecessor TAM Records, You So Fat and Disturbed, they decided to try doing this whole thing full-time in 2013. EP after EP, single after single, they worked their way through various underground Neurofunk labels like Trendkill, Citrus, RedZone, Druid, Ammunition and Greypost, until they eventually landed their first release on Jade's Eatbrain label in 2016. From there on out, the successes just kept piling on and on. From Bad Taste to Ignescent, from ProgRAM to regular RAM, from Blackout to VISION, basically no label with a Neurofunk division was safe from them and their carnage. However, all throughout this ever-turning label carousel, they always came back to the place that pushed them to the next level, Eatbrain, giving us a total of five EPs and two LPs on the legendary label.

And now they're on Hanzom! How crazy is that?! I truly believe the Hanzom gang are some of the best label people out there and yet I'm still surprised they landed such a big fish. Well, not surprised-surprised, but still, this is such a bonkers signing! So what did the brazen brothers come up with for this joyous occasion? One hell of a banger, of course! Supersonic might start out harmless enough, but the haunting, heavily reverberated sounds will quickly let you know that this is just a calm before the storm. Soon after, our suspicions are confirmed, when the large wall of synths starts towering above us, further and further, until it all comes crashing down in a fast-paced action sequence that really earns the track its title, with both the quick-firing bass stabs and drums performing this super catchy, syncopated rhythm that keeps you on your toes. In the second half we become the witness to a Half-Time version of all of this wonderfulness, before the sonics become super once more for the finale.

Absolute banger of a tune, i.e. classic Bunx goodness.

Other neuro things from this week:

A.M.C - Bass (Teddy Killerz Remix) (<3)
Fourward - Dangerous Waste Product / Sound Of The Underground (<3)
TNTKLZ - The Opposing EP
Binary - About You EP
LxT, Clusta - Gods Against Us 💎