Picks Of The Week (16.04.22

1. XAETIS - Leviathan LP 💎 [Sinful Maze]

Recommended if you like: Billain, Culprate, Spor

Now for something absolutely ludicrous.

Ludicrously good, that is! Hah, tricked you! A few months ago I was visiting the UK for a weekend, to meet up with some friends and, most importantly, go to the Virus Recordings show at the Steel Yard in London. In the midst of the carnage that Ed Rush et al. were throwing at the crowd, I received the news that Bristolian new wave DnB newcomer Louis Parker, aka XAETIS, is releasing an actual album on one of my most beloved techy labels out there, Sinful Maze! Even though my body was already all kinds of broken from all the dancing, my mind initiated the hype train immediately. Why, you ask? Who are all these people even, you continue without letting me answer? Okay good news, bad news time. Bad news is, I won't be talking much more about the artist or label background here. Good news, I did that a lot of times and I will link you the relevant threads! Not only have I talked about XAETIS when he released his incredibly sick Ready double single last year, his remix for the Black Hole Series remix compilation was also one of my favourites. Not to mention that Czech label Sinful Maze has been close to my heart since their inception, with three separate reviews preceding this one. TL;DR: Both Louis and Sinful Maze are amazing and deserve all the spotlight they can get. Which is also why this release is my Hidden Gem Of The Week™️!

With my artist and label fanboying out of the way, let me now fanboy about the music instead! Even though this is rather compact album with "only" 7 tracks, I'll still pick and choose my favourites to talk more in-depth about. Otherwise we'll be here all day, trust me.

Louis kickstarts this experimental ride with Stop Go. At first you might think this is a soothing start to this journey through space, but it only takes a little bit under a minute for the universe-eating Leviathan to rear its ugly head. At first might think you're safe from its destruction if you just hide well enough, but soon enough, it will come for you. Xaetis effectively symbolises both the sheer power this monstrous beast possesses and the futile attempts of other organisms trying their hardest to stop it by constrasting an otherworldy, gargantuan techy roar with an insane amount of snares. It's n u t s. Even though it already starts at an extremely high level of energy, Louis manages to put even more energy into the roar the longer the drop goes on, with the "return fire" of the snare machine gun slowly but surely disappearing completely.

Speaking of crazy production: If you want to embark on even more unique adventures after Stop Go, just continue listening and you will be rewarded handsomely. The second stop Insecurities is an honest-to-Ed-Rush creepy journey through all kinds of different tempos and styles, listening to it will make you feel like you've just listened to another whole album. Following that is Pathogen, which doesn't just go from half-time to full-time and back a few times, no no, it's also produced in a 17/8 rhythm and towards the end even goes into a little bit of 4x4!

While we're on the topic of 4x4 madness, let's talk about Never Have! Unlike with Pathogen, 4x4 is not just a phase for this tune, it's who they are. Even though it mostly stays on that pounding rhythm over the course of its 5 and a half minutes, Xaetis still manages to keep things interesting all the way through. Not only are the straight-up terrifying vocals doing an excellent job of making you feel even more uneasy in this already dark bunker-esque setting, Louis also takes us on an incredibly interesting melodic synth voyage, helmed by an equally alien-sounding but definitely more welcoming vocal. Soon enough however, the creepiness seeps right back into the track and the pounding becomes harder than ever before, while we're just bombarded by strange sounds we've never heard before from all directions. Anyone who reads these should know that I'm always up for some cheeky 4x4 DnB, so let me tell you, this is easily one of the best renditions of that particular subsubsubgenre I've heard so far.

Want even more 4x4? Well, Doctor isn't just a well-produced straight-up techy business banger in its first half, it also goes into some great 4x4 in its second half too! Another banger I can wholeheartedly recommend is Gargoyled, which isn't just inspired by the one and only Virus Recordings, it also sports a whole lot of steppy weirdness and variations that just keep on coming and coming.

After all this rough and wild thrashing, we still got one more track to go: the EP closer, Chapters. Compared to some of the previous tracks, this closing chapter is a lot less out there, but don't let that fool you, it's still an incredibly-produced piece of music. A whole lot of chopped-up, extremely quickly hitting synths, contrasted with some more menacing sounds from below (which reminded me a bit of Stop Go) and not to forget that bubbly yet beautiful synth action in between all that. While that's already an auditory sight to behold, until the breakdown the whole thing feels like it becomes faster and faster as it goes along too. The second half is a bit more subdued, but the chaos still creeps up every now and then, reminding us of what we've been through during these last 30+ minutes. As most of the instrumental fades out for the outro, only the aforementioned menacing cries of the Leviathan guide us through these last few minutes of LP. Haunting, stunning, just awesome.

Both Xaetis' and Sinful Maze's best work so far, easily. Honestly incredible production, a ton of experimental creativity, while still having an insane amount of musicality to it.

Other crazy and/or techy DnB from this week:

Camo & Krooked, Mefjus - Overture
Ewan Bristow - Expression 💎
Various Artists - Powered By Inspected: Series 3 EP 💎
Various Artists - SQD010 EP [Music Squad]
Forum - Right Time EP 💎
Grinder, MNTL - Gearbox EP 💎

2. Shayper - You EP [ProgRAM]

Recommended if you like: Sola, AIRGLO, NC-17

DnB comes in all shapes and forms, but some releases are just a little Shaypeyer than others.

For many people April marks the start of hay fever season, but it seems like this year it's also the beginning of Hayter fever season. Ryan Hayter, better known as DJ and producer Shayper, to be specific. Not only did Ryan see a lot of success with his recent double single This Ends Now / Funk You on Melinki's Four Corners, he was also recently interviewed by the living welsh legend Dave Jenkins himself! So clearly things are going amazing for Mr. Shayper right now, but let's take a step back and see how we got here, shall we?

Ryan Hayter is a Norwichian electronic music producer with a huge love for the heavier hitting sides of DnB. As long as the snare bangs hard, Ryan is on board. His journey through the world of production and DJing started 15 years ago, when his dad provided him with a copy of Reason. In an honestly quite impressively short amount of time he was apparently already supporting Rudimental and Zane Low with his DJing skills, but his performances only started being uploaded around 2013, when his Deep & Dark Drum & Bass Mix was made public. I'm mentioning the exact title mostly because I literally uploaded one of those a few weeks ago too. And I thought I was being creative! My cheeky self-promo aside, Mr. Shayper expanded his reach further and further by working together with the Rough Tempo, Cre8DnB and Disjointed Textures Audio crews over the following years.

One tragic day, however, his hard drive broke and a ton of his previous work was completely lost. Not just that, around the same time he became a father too, so he understandably decided to take a step back from music for a while to focus his energy on his family. Shaype his daughter's future for a bit, you know. A few years later, when things had calmed down a little again, the itch to make music came back stronger than ever. His first few new productions started appearing around 2019, even gaining the support of Overview Music through their Overview Podcast. Like a lot of his peers, he used the extra time the pandemic provided a lot of people with to focus on getting them snares exactly right. Releases on Sub-Division, who actually played a huge part in getting him back on the grind, Virtuous, Headsbass, Sub-liminal and Serial Killaz followed. That's also around the same time I've first heard about him, because my mate (shout-out to Nabeel <3) was constantly sharing all the latest Shayper tunes. Understandably so, because a lot of them were just straight-up bangers. So much so, that his tunes have now even reached RAM Records' Label Manager Jim, who immediately signed a whole EP of Shayper bangers to RAM's sister label ProgRAM. And that's exactly the EP we're talking about here, the You EP!

We start off with the titular You, featuring fellow Norwichian DJ and vocalist Tallulah. Just like the very lovely release artwork, it all starts in a surprisingly relaxing way, with Tallulah providing the track with some great vocals along the way. Sure, the pianos are a little scary, but maybe it's just a sad track, you know? Before I can even finalise that thought, the reality hits me: 'tis a banger. Not only do the mechanical snares hit with lightning speed, the call-and-response between the quite distorted bass and the new wave vocal chops also transforms any sad face into a bass face in no time. I especially love the way it switches to the even harder snare while the bass goes crazy for a few seconds, it's like a little slap to the face for anyone who dares to not pay attention. In the second half Shayper treats us with a little exploration of half-time, before turning the speed knob all the way back to full-time for the finale.

Next up, Inhale, a feature with british producer B-Plexx, who, by the way, also released on the aforementioned Disjointed Textures label! Inhale is probably one of the biggest tunes of the whole release and arguably even of Shayper's discography so far. Even in the intro Ryan already brings out the epic choir chants, but when that "Just Breathe" sample hits for the first time, you can feel the mood shift from epic to scary. And let me tell you, the drop continues to deliver on that exact feeling. A seemingly simple bouncy pounding rhythm escalates into a chills-inducing wall of sound that comes crashing down on you, all while the sample keeps trying to tell you to stay calm and the choir keeps up their cultish chant. Hearing that live must be a trip, is what I'm trying to say here.

Next on our tracklist is Back To The Flow, which is quite aptly named. We've got funky basslines, a lounge-y atmosphere, all the goods. However, Shayper is not here to chill, he's here to rip stuff apart! Soon enough, the instruments are rearranged and chopped up in completely new ways, and once we get to the drop, we're again hit by some of that oh so beautifully disgusting distorted bass. What I love about this one, is this sense of fun flow Shayper creates with all these funky samples being mixed together. Really lovely track this one. Disgusting too. The best kind of combination.

Lastly we've got From Cradle To Rave, featuring fellow british DnB producer and DJ DROWZEE. Some people might change their gears to a more relaxing pace for the outro of an EP. Shayper is not one of those people. Hard-hitting snares of all kinds, a fast-paced drum loop really pushing you forward, whether you want it or not, with a simple yet surprisingly effective dadada vocal sample as their main melodic lead. In the second half the two even branch off from the typical two-step rhythm to a more syncopated half-time vibe.

If you like your DnB heavy and your snares well-produced, you'll like this one. Look out, the Shayper fever season is only just getting started.

Other heavy things from this week:

InsideInfo - Lies With You
Symplex - Witch
Prolix - Rocket Fuel
Art1fact - Heartless
Melanchol - Formation EP 💎