Picks Of The Week (29.01.22

Verwelkoming! This wasn't necessarily planned beforehand, but all the releases I've chosen for this week come from Dutch producers, so why not officially call this a special Netherlands Spotlight episode! Literally everyone thinks I'm Dutch anyway, so why not lean into it a bit?

1. Rueben - Memories EP [Overview Music]

Recommended if you like: Halogenix, Ordure, En:vy

Let's talk about the most promising new aliases in the scene: Rueben.

While this particular alias is still very fresh, having only been created a few months ago, it would be disingenuous to call Rueben a newcomer. The man behind the project, Jelle Ruben Geus, has been an integral part of the scene for ages, with his productions being around for more than a decade basically. Let's pull back a little first though. Way back in school times, Jelle, born and raised in Groning, but nowadays residing in Amsterdam, befriended his class mate Jesse de Rooy. They immediately jelled together, one could say. While both had some solo experience with FL studio and Ableton and the likes, it took until around 2010 for them to produce something together, which became the foundation for their electronic music duo Ordure. What started out as two friends building a DnB track around an Austrian rap acapella that they didn't even understand themselves, ended up becoming one of the more unique artists of the scene.

When I say "scene", I'm really talking about more than just the general DnB spheres. Their first few releases, with their debut EP coming out on Adapter Records in 2013, jumped through a lot of different genres and moods, most notably Neurohop. That genre connection lead to them becoming part of the old Neurohop forums, which ended up becoming the group of excellent producers that is the Music Squad. Eventually they found their home label in the one and only Flexout Audio, on which they were free to release all their bassy genre mixtures, as well as some great unique DnB.

That's not all that Jelle has done in his musical journey though, far from it. For a few years he (and Jesse, for that matter) worked at a radio station creating short jingles for their breaks, as a Sound Designer for a few short films like Het lot van Tom, but probably most notably as a label manager for Blackout Music. Alongside all of that he sometimes also puts out lo-fi beats to relax/study to under his 12nd alias. So why the new separate DnB alias then? In a recent interview he explains that Ordure has always been a project with which he and Jesse can have fun with in the studio, but lately he has been composing a lot of music that's too personal and close to his heart to fit that box anymore. That's also exactly why he chose the name Rueben (which is his middle name, well, plus the extra e for better SEO), to emphasize the close personal connection to this new wave of music. Last year saw the debut of the project, with a remix for Simply Things by his Music Squad colleague Grey Code, followed by the collaborative Prima Dollo EP with his house mate Waeys. I now realise where he got the idea for the extra e from.

Now we celebrate his first full solo project as Rueben, the Memories EP, released on the label that has become one of the best in the deep, dark and techy niche faster than you can say "No, not Onyx Recordings". Yes, I'm of course talking about Overview Music! Since Peter Piper Maxted created this now-behemoth of a label back in 2018, it has seen success after success, even if the D&B Arena Best Newcomer award isn't one of them. Whether it's Klinical, Wingz, gyrofield, Skylark, Waeys, Vowel, Operate, YAANO or basically any other great artist in that subgenre, Overview had them all. This amazing roster and this high level of quality music isn't even really surprising, considering Peter was previously responsible for the great things that Lifestyle Music has brought into our lives.

Alright, let's dive into this first solo offering now. The Memories EP kicks off with the oldest tune of the EP, the title track. When I say oldest I don't mean it was released as a single before or something, no no, I mean that it's been in the works for round about five years. Way back when Jelle and Jesse invited dutch singer PHI NIX into their studio in Hilversum, they were still trying to work out how to make it work as an Ordure track. The instrumental was supposed to be very footwork-inspired, but for one reason or another it just never felt right. The tune was put to the side for ages, until last year. Jelle needed a vocal for one of the more vibey tunes he was writing at the time and you can guess how the final track was born. In other words, it's not just called Memories because that's what the vocals are singing, the vocal probably also holds a lot of nostalgic memories for Jelle.

But what about the tune itself, you ask? Well, it's absolutely beautiful. Not only do I fully understand Rueben's urge to keep the vocals around for a while, because they are out of this world, but it's safe to say he knows what he's doing on the instrumental side too. Synth melodies as lush as the vocals, interspersed with these short Ordure-esque basslines I've missed so much over the last few years, guide you along the journey on a great set of rolling drums. All of this builds itself up with this warm embrace of a background bass until everything slowly fades out with only the vocals remaining. After a few seconds of this near-total silence, all the other elements come crushing back down into the liquid roller symphony we know from before. I love that part so much man. Just beautiful all around.

The follow-up No Need To keeps up that same beautiful pace. Inspired by the likes of Halogenix, Rueben brings together a short yet extremely soulful set of vocal samples, emotional synth work out of this world and another set of rolling drums to die for for this one. What makes this track for me is the whole back and forth between the different small snippets, it just gives the whole track this flow that makes me want to bop my head. What really makes this track though is hearing Peter Piper Maxted talking in a bathtub at the end, which, fun fact, was the end result of Rueben pranking Peter after he prematurely announced the project on the Overview podcast. To be honest, it's also just a really sweet message, even without the fun context surrounding it.

You don't want melodies, but wubs? Well, I've got just the track for you! On Punk Rueben and MC Gusto take us right down into the underground. Not just in regards to the UK dancefloor wubbage though, but also when it comes to the rebellious content of Gusto's great vocal performance. It is called Punk, after all. Rueben ends the EP with Apathy, which feels a little like the heavier sibling of No Need To. Written during a breakup with his ex-girlfriend in 2020, it once again carries a lot of Jelle's personal emotions with it. But you don't need that backstory to experience the feelings this track conveys. It's moody, it's lashing out at times, it's continuously rolling despite all the stabs coming in left and right, it's just one hell of a track.

I'm honestly very glad we've been getting so much Rueben goodness lately, I love everything he has put out so far. This EP is probably my favourite thing he's done yet. Emotionally-charged, cleanly produced, just exactly the type of deep and dark DnB that I love.

Other deep/liquid stuff from this week:

Calyx & TeeBee - Anything For Attention
Invadherz, Felix Raymon - Heartless EP
Document One, A Little Sound - Back To Me
Fluidity - So Real / Never Ever
PONZ, Ben Shaw - Haunted
Various Artists - The Full Spectrum Part 1 [Ekou Recordings] 💎
Kumo - Numbers EP
SOLAH - Everything Is Possible

2. Raid:Zero - Fragments EP 💎 [LUX Music]

Recommended if you like: Rebel Scum, PRFCT Mandem, Giganti

From one producer I could easily write multiple paragraphs of backstory about to a duo that I'll struggle to find enough for one: Time to talk about the mysterious Raid:Zero! Yes yes, I'm a week too late for this one. If I covered it last week it wouldn't have fit with the theme of the week though.

Alright, so who are Raid:Zero? Welp, I can't really help you out much with that. They are two dudes with grey, polygon-y masks posing as robotic beings that allegedly already have some experience in the music and/or event industry. Probably dutch. That's where my information ends. Which is exactly why this release is my Hidden Gem Of The Week™️! This debut release of theirs came out on Lux Music, the label of dutch event organisers NOX founded only a little bit more than a year ago. Just like with their event series, their goal is to feature a lot of different styles and genres with this new platform. Considering the releases they've put out so far, provided by the likes of CaitC, Alora, DubApe and Koarse, I'd say they are doing a bang-up job so far.

Speaking of bang-ers, let's talk about this grotesquely banging EP. Sometimes I like to talk a bit more abstractly about tracks if they evoke certain cinematic images in me and I would probably do that here too, but since the promo writers of Lux already did that amazingly, I'll just focus on the music itself.

The duo eases us into the world of the Fragments EP with the opener Fractured. Did I say ease? I meant dropkick us into a world of fire, explosions and earthquakes, of course. Seriously, it may start out with a beautifully crafted cinematic atmosphere, but the way that first drop chucks these fully-charged synth rhythms at us left me shooketh on the first listen. I was already fully on board with this track at that point, but then it switched to a full-on 4x4 barrage with those very same synth stabs and I just knew this EP is going to be great.

The mysterious duo keeps that same energy all the way up on The Keepers. It's as if you're wandering into a cave to search for artifacts of a long-lost civilization and you accidentally activate the massive earth golems protecting the underground city. Honestly, those are some large, ominous walls of evil bass washing over you. If I was in that situation, I would most definitely just freeze from the sheer size of these sounds and then probably die on the spot.

However even if we survived that assault, we are not in the clear yet. On Event Horizon the otherworldly alarm sirens follow us everywhere, but only when the watch towers aren't currently firing with their machineguns at us. They don't even stop there, they even send in an absurdly large earth-shattering bass towards us towards the end of that drop. In the second drop we're blessed with another 4x4 switchup that puts even further emphasis on these wonderfully weird sirens from the first drop, upping the distortion on each repeat until your bassface is at maximum contortion.

Last but not least we've got Lights Out, featuring the wonderful vocals of regular LUX vocalist Marge. However, don't let her soothing vocals lull you into a false sense of security, things are about to get heavy again. Once the inevitable bass wave arrives, it bounces back and forth between making the walls of my apartment wobble and a bouncy set of diabolic stabs. To round this massively bassface-worthy journey off, Marge's angelic vocals return once more to lower our heart rates again, on top of the relatively relaxing, piano-heavy aftershock.

What else can I even say? Out of literally nowhere, Raid:Zero come out with an EP that is can easily described as "banger after banger after banger after banger". 4 Bangers. Hope we'll hear a lot more from them in the future!

Other banging tracks from this week:

hayve - Between The Lines
RIOT - Down With Your Love (REAPER Remix)
Vypes - Renegade 💎
Decades, oneBYone - No On There
Lynel - All The Way 💎
Krabi, Various Autists - Stopbord (:D) 💎
gladde paling - vis op het droge EP (:D)

3. NCT - RE:ASTROPHYSICAL LP [Liquicity Records]

Recommended if you like: T & Sugah, Feint, Fliwo

No, not the K-pop band. Having those release on Liquicity would be quite a trip though.

No, I'm of course talking about the dutch duo NCT, consisting of Alex Witschge (also known as the guy behind Compass Agency and since this month also Liquicity project manager / booker) and Jeroen Nai Chung Tong (the producer guy with the hair, who the project is named after). Ever since the foundations of NCT had been laid 10 years ago, they haven't just become a Liquicity mainstay, they have also gone on to release great DnB on Hospital, Viper, Monstercat, NoCopyrightSounds and experimented with a lot of other genres on labels like Circus Records and Never Say Die. That calls for some remixes! More specifically, remixes of their 2020 debut album Astrophysical!

When I first saw the list of remixers that worked on this, I had to double-check that I wasn't the one who selected the artist roster for this. Seriously, it's like they specifically went through my favourite artists list for this. Since my wall of text for this week has already gotten dangerously high, I'll keep it to my favourites though.

Let's start with the title track, Astrophysical, featuring the incredible vocal performance by Skyelle, remixed by none other than Liquicity shooting star Lexurus! I was already deeply in love with the original, it was practically one of my favourite tracks of 2019, so I was sceptical of any attempts at a remix. However, Lexurus has not once let me down either, so I was still hopeful. I don't even know why I had even the tiniest bit of doubt though, of course he pulled it off, the smooth bastard. The original drop's amazingly cheesy yet powerful melody has been transformed into one that's filled with synths so beautiful they will make you want to convert to Lexurusism. Seriously, I could bathe in these warm melodies. I don't even know how that would work, but it just feels right in my head. Stunning remix.

Want to listen to other new Dancefloor-y takes on some NCT originals? Jack Mirror's futuristically bouncy remix of Electrify or Jon Void heavier rendition of the anthem that is The Feeling might be just the thing for you!

Another one that could probably quench your thirst for the danceable is surfboi SØL's unique take on New Horizon with one of my favourite vocalists as of late, RIENK! Allow me to correct one of my earlier introduction of his: No, RIENK isn't just an up-and-coming vocalist, like I thought. He's been out-and-about with his MONTBLANK band, with his new Abbad + Freimann project and as a songwriter for Cloud9, Downtown Music Publishing and, well, Liquicity for a while now. Whoopsie. Anyway, back to the remix! SØL took the break-heavy crying-in-the-rain original and injected it with some incredibly well-fitting rock energy. Not only does the buildup now feel like a sweet emotional punk anthem, SØL also transformed the original drop's guitar melody into his unique fun style that's now surfing on a bouncy Dancefloor wobbler wave. Certainly a certified Surf Slapper™️ this one.

Want some more relaxing remixes instead? How about L.A.O.S beautiful remix of Afterlife? Or Telomic's soothing remix of Lost & Found? Or Rameses B's unique remix of Overcome?

Speaking of unique, it would be criminal of me not to mention Blooom's remix of Before I Go here. Ever since I've heard it in his Fox Stevenson Pizza Party mix more than half a year ago or so, I've been anxiously awaiting the day it finally sees the light of day. Even though this remix is considerably more chill than his solo EP last month for example, you can instantly tell it's his. With his fun, bouncy, surprisingly bass-heavy sound design and the sheer attention to detail on literally everything he really made it his own. I even thought it was a Blooom original for a while until I realised where I recognized the vocal from. Please never stop making music Blooom, this is honestly like crack for my ears.

Oh, you don't even want to hear DnB? Then you could always just check out Franky Nuts' dubstep remix of Astrophysical or Elodin's ... adventure bass?... remix of Now Or Never!

Amazing set of artists and amazing set of remixes. My cheese-loving heart is very much satisfied.

Other fun dancefloory things from this week:

MUZZ - Catharsis X
Jonasu, JC Stewart - On My Mind (Danny Byrd Remix)
Jomarijan - Sweater Weather (Kove Remix)
Middle Idol - Навсегда
Krewella - I'm Just A Monster Underneath, My Darling