Picks Of The Week (12.03.22

Due to Rampage happening this week, I sadly don't have time for the normal full-length reviews. However, these two releases are so damn good that I still want to fanboi a little bit over them.

1. Teddy Killerz - Critical Damage EP [Eatbrain]

Recommended if you like: Nais, Gydra, Mizo

Two weeks ago I've talked about the immensely huge Ukrainian charity LP, last week about the stupidly big banger by Anglo-Russian Magnetude, this week I'll start with the DnB group I've had to think about the most since all this war mess started: The Ukrainian-Russian trio Teddy Killerz. I think especially now it's important to keep supporting the artists that get caught up in this senseless crossfire, but trust me, I would have featured this release either way as it's absolutely ridiculous. More on that later!

Before that, can I just mention real quick how insanely high their production level is, while still being one of the most productive artist in all of DnB? Even if we only look at the releases since my review of their Landing Capsule EP from 8 months ago, there's still tons of highlights. I mean, that time frame includes stuff like their My Daily Meal remix and their way too fun Night Train double single on Souped Up, their collaboration with Kompany on the one and only Neuropunk Records Assault and Clone, a collaboration with Celldweller (!) of all people. This week they returned to probably the biggest and best-branded Neuro label of them all, Jade's Eatbrain, with yet another three ludicrously huge bangers, also known as the Critical Damage EP. They now officially occupy more than 60 (!) spots in my Liked Songs list. Literally no other artist comes even close to this. To say I am a huge fan of their music would be an understatement.

Alright, EP time. The Teddies kick off the release with the title track Critical Damage and let's just say the track is very aptly named. With no time wasted, they just immediately throw beautifully disgusting bass stabs so fast at your head that you can't help but look like you've bitten into an enourmous lemon. In a seriously quick call-and-response fashion they violently toss you back and forth between scary stabs, beastly basses, horror-esque harmonies and various vocal samples.

On Ego the horror levels are cranked up to 11 with creepy music box melodies and children singing, before a sense of impending doom manifests itself in the form of some seriously sick breaks coming in. While the intro is already great, what comes next is even more magnificent. Not only are the Teddies giving us some of the most outrageously huge funky bass rhythms here, they then also fire back even harder with a bass tsunami, on top of which a laser relentlessly pewpew's at us, before pounding our head in with a short 4x4 section. So damn good.

On the EP closer Don't Kill My Vibe the trio takes the ideas and themes of the release so far and blends them together with some oldschool vibes from all corners of the scene. Quick-firing acid-y synths, rave-y instruments, some reggae-esque vocal samples, all riding on top of a wave of proper syncopated break loops, injected with the patented raw Teddy Killerz energy. Just, damn.

I think the Teddies did critical damage to my brain with these three incredibly large bangers. Absolutely huge release.

2. Notequal - Dusted EP [Hanzom Music]

Recommended if you like: Meph, SLWDWN, YAANO

From a very much established DnB trio to one that is still a fresh face in the scene, let's talk about Czech-Slovakian trio Notequal's release from this week!

Since being founded in 2019, Absu, proxer and LONGMAN, better known as Notequal nowadays, have jumped from banger to banger to banger. As one of the core artists of one of my favourite labels Sinful Maze and with occasional appearances on Watchout Music, Delta9, Hyperactivity and Ekou, they have shown time and time again that they are one of the newcomers most worth keeping an eye on. But wait, I forgot one label: Hanzom Music, straight outta Cologne, Germany! Yes, it's that time again. I wonder if my Hanzom Music review count crossed the double digits already. Don't look at me like that, what am I supposed to do if they just keep putting out some of the best Neuro releases?

Anyway. After their Hanzom debut on the huge Panic Room RMXD EP series, they now return for a full solo project, their 3-track compilation of bangers, the Dusted EP!

We start our dusty journey with the cinematic banger that is Caesium. Even more so than usual, Notequal managed to create an atmosphere as thick as the heaviest sandstorms here, before diving deep into some seriously crunchy techy business. Piercing snares, hard-hitting yet bouncy rhythms, synths that sound like aliens are trying to communicate with us, they got it all in this one. On Sunburn they continue on with even more blazing-fast techy drums, paired with a ton of perfectly distorted bass and a vocal sample that gives the whole thing a way too catchy sense of rhythm. Speaking of rhythm, on the EP closer Oasis the trio takes us down into the deepest, darkest bunker the desert has to offer with a continuously thumping 4x4 beat that drills itself into your brain, one thump at a time. Even though they've already done quite a few 4x4 tunes, this one still manages to stand out from all of them with its incredible atmosphere, its many melodic elements coming in from all directions and the sheer ridiculousness of the distortion applied to the pounding. In the second half we even jump back into the usual techy DnB rhythm we are used to from its two predecessors.

Some of Notequal's best work yet, and that's saying something.

P.S.: The EP artwork is simply amazing and I kind of want it framed in my apartment.