Picks Of The Week (05.11.22

1. Various Artists - Chamomile LP (High Tea Music Presents) 💎 [High Tea Music]

Recommended if you like: Pirapus, VovKING, Lexurus

Yep, we're doing this again. I blame the people at High Tea for being too damn good at their jobs. I can't just ignore an incredible selection of talented Dancefloor newcomers, you know that's my weakness!

Alright, enough of that. You know the drill. Three deep-dive picks, then summary. Go!

Pick 1: Rob Gasser & Harley Bird - Spent

I honestly don't know how I've never stumbled upon Robert "Rob" Gasser before this. I mean, I did, I definitely heard of them, but for whatever stupid reason I never actually bothered checking out more than one track of theirs. To say I deeply regret that now is underselling it. From their cozy residence in the Land Of The Switz, Rob has been putting all kinds of moods into their music, from smile-inducing up-beatness to moshpit-causing throw-downers, since around 2014. From Complextro and Glitch Hop to Disco Stuff and DnB, the genre never really mattered, the main goal of their music has always been energy. All Gasser, no brakes. An ethos that quickly made Rob a regular on labels like NoCopyrightSound and Fox Stevenson's old label Cloudhead Records, but also lead to tons of releases on other notable outlets like Monstercat, Kinphonic, Rushdown, Most Addictive and, above all else, the prestigious label ROBERT P GASSER. Over the years, Rob hasn't just put out a lot of music under the gasser brand™️, in 2020 they've also created a whole 'nother identity to release music under, Kid Trevor.

For this contribution to the compilation, Rob reached out to fellow NCS veteran and angel voice from the city of angels Harley Bird. After spending like 4 years writing and rewriting iterations of the song, Spent was finally done. While it isn't great that they had to endure this long to get it out there, it does make for some fun meta analysis. Sure, lyrics like "Days, weeks, months, years, I spent them all on you" could very well be about a relationship or something normal like that, but it's way funnier to me to imagine them being so fed up with the track not being finished that they started airing out their frustration against the track in the track itself. Even when you ignore this meta aspect of it all though, it's a truly wonderful performance from Harley! However, Rob lives up to their name and steals the show with an absolutely incredible instrumental. Just from the already very cheeky energy present in the first few seconds, you already know it's gonna be fun, but nothing could prepare you for just how fun! Right when you think the drop is about to hit, Rob throws you a curveball by pulling out the drums from underneath you, only leaving you with an assortment of futuristic synth stabs and vocal chops, before launching an honest-to-rob assault on your senses. Waves of satisfying bass, punchy dancefloor drums smoothly transforming into energetically rolling ones and back again, fun synth melodies, it's all just so damn good!

Pick 2: Josh Lovis - This Can't Be All

Alright, but this one is an actual new name now. Joshua Meur, from Breda in the Netherlands, has been putting out music since about 2015. Back then still under the name Nozem, Joshua was mostly known for Hip-hop-inspired Flume-esque Chillstep beats, a sound that he also carried over to his new alias JOSH around 2016 and his even newer name Josh Lovis around 2017. In 2019, he wanted to try out something similarly sound design heavy, but completely different sounding, so he ventured out under a new name, Trinist. Oh, goddamnit! Of course Josh has a super sick other alias, it explains so so much. In case you don't know, Trinist is basically one of the most interesting new names in the techy-newschool-futuristic corner of DnB. After releasing a bunch of Half-Time tracks on his own, none other than Inspected reached out to him for a slice of DnB, to which he gladly obliged. Since then, he has been presenting his music on all kinds of forward-thinking labels like Neksus, VALE, Halcyon and even Blackout and RAM, earning himself support from Noisia, Skantia and of course Annix and Simula. Wait, so what's the Josh Lovis alias for then? The more liquid-y sides of DnB, among other things like lo-fi, of course! Said new liquid sound was debuted on High Tea's 2021 Rooibos compilation, with Make It Count.

Today, however, we'll talk about something more in-line with his early inspirations though: This Can't Be All! Sure, it starts liquid-y enough, with the soulful titular vocal sample singing along to itself with some distant rolling drums underneath it, but once we get to the drop you'll know what I mean. In said plunge into the abyss Josh trades the relatively chill atmosphere with Flume-inspired choppy synths performing their own syncopated rhythms on top of a genuinely heavy bouncing bass, with only shrapnels of the vocal remaining. It's all so perfectly cleanly produced that it strikes this beautiful balance of being melted away from the sheer power of these basses when listening on a soundsystem, while still being able to hear all kinds of intricate details coming together when listening on headphones.

Pick 3: Vektral - Lightspeed (ft. Luke Coulson)

Lastly, let's talk about someone actually new: Vektral! Tom Sorvel, straight outta Manchester in the UK, started his DnProduction career around 2016, with his first alias Vorles. After a couple of self-releases and a double single on Triplicate Audio, however, he switched out all the letters in his name with different ones in 2019. Well, expect for the V at the beginning. Now operating as Vektral, his name started popping up all over the country, especially once he got more involved with the up-and-coming UK-based Dancefloor-DnB label Grand Theft Audio just a couple months after the name change. For his debut on High Tea here, he put the pedal to the metal, engaged the hyperdrive and put all thrusters to full throttle, with Lightspeed. With Newcastle-based vocalist Luke Coulson providing one of his signature soulful performances, the track already had a lot of potential energy (trying to go for a physics pun here), but with his hand for high-energy drums and earworm-y, nostalgia-inducing and just all-around dreamy synth melodies, Tom really pushed the needle over the edge here. Definitely a track for racing down the empty highway.

Conclusion

As always, there's also so so much more to explore on this wonderful compilation. Gold-skulled mystery newcomers CLIQUES make their debut with a high-octane remix of Tapolsky and VovKING's Medicine, after which Rotterdam-based Astreaux calms us all down again with the soothing Recalibration. Weekly review regular Houndeye keeps this going with the incredibly vibey Alone, followed by Slovenia-based KYRIPH's powerful Nordic Prayer. Newcomer and -zealander RUEBIK showcases his unique Dancefloor style once more with Ashes, before the mysterious Semaj blasts us away with absolutely dirty Destiv Veil. [BORDERS] feels out the outer edges of his own sound with the both uplifting and insanely futuristic weapon that is We Were Right, right next to Six Realms going into a deeper direction with his remix of M.S.R's Missing. Pansa Now and Stephen Voyce reunite on the beautiful piano-driven The Greatest, and lastly we've got multigenerational duo Drum Dad & Bass Boy blasting us away with SLAYER.

As always, the lovely people at High Tea managed to create a perfectly balanced blend between not just established and new artists, but also high and low energy.

Other Dancefloor things from this week:

Lane 8, Channy Leaneagh - Survive (Grafix Remix)
C:rcle - Love Survives 💎
Mage - Tell Me

2. Kaizen Flow - TLM / Object [VTO Records]

Recommended if you like: Traced, ChaseR, Zombie Cats

One of my favourite things about following all DnB artist's every move these past few years is seeing how artists develop, especially newcomers. There's just something inherently satisfying about seeing someone you follow since the very beginning going from the very first small steps to releasing on huge labels, being supported by tons of DJs and even being played on the radio. Exactly this is currently happening with men like Kaizen Flow.

Since I know one half of the Kaizen Bros personally (full disclosure), I was already acutely aware of their potential for shenanibangers way in advance, but the first time they publically showed what their crazy brains are capable of was in May 2021, with their debut release, a double contribution for Korsakov's second Future Stars compilation. Seem familiar? That's because I covered these two mad creations from Nick Beaven and Shane Hill a little bit more than a year ago now! Since then, they not only managed to snatch a podium place at Zombie Cats' Flava remix competition last year, they also expanded to several other Neurofunk labels like Expedite Records, Sine Function and since a couple months ago none other than behemoth Eatbrain. This week sees them debuting on Traced's wonderful VTO Records with another two slices of filth, TLM and Object. So let's talk a little about those, shall we?

TLM isn't just obviously referring to the world-famous cryptocurrency Alien Worlds according to my 2 second Google search just now, it's also musically out of this world. Sure, things start off normal enough, with an incredible atmosphere slowly being built up while the fast-rolling syncopated drums whip us into shape, but as soon as the blahpy-bloopy bleep-based lead creeps up, you'll realise this is not your usual tune. Atop a constantly raging sea of distorted basses and fine-tuned snares, the lead just keeps on keeping on, slowly but surely making its way into your subconscious, until every fiber of your being is consumed by it. It's catchy as hell is what I'm trying to say. Even Mollie Collins couldn't resist the temptation of the melody, giving the Kaizen Joe's their first radio play on her Kiss FM show!

Even if you're still busy processing The Little Mermaid, as I like to call it, we have to press on, with Object. Luckily, Nick and Shane have got something to distract us: An absolutely huge banger. Both the forward-slapping drums, especially the objectively great snares, and the straight-up mean melody are already pushing you to the dancefloor on their own, but then that bass comes in. Oh my lord, that bass. The texture of it. I can literally feel it wreaking havoc on my ears, stab by stab. And then that second drop, holy moly, have some mercy with me, dear Kaizen Van Gogh's. Just carnage, every second of it.

One release after another, Nick and Shane are kaizen-growing into one of the most interesting Neurofunk artists out there. Definitely keep an eye on these two!

Other heavy stuff from this week:

L33 - Lifeforms EP
GU:STUFF - Takeoff 💎
Enei - Humans LP
Intercept - Lumen / Ambidextrous
Absu - Heavy Control 💎
Phonetick - You
Black Sun Empire, Rido - Timelords
Evolved - Chapter Six 💎
A.way - Pandora's Box