Picks Of The Week (21.05.22

0. Neonlight - Vanity Fair LP [Blackout Music]

Recommended if you like: State Of Mind, Teddy Killerz, Misanthrop

You're in the mood for some Neuro? And want to read a whole lot about the artists involved, including backstory fun facts like which bands the artist's parents were in? That's a pretty specific mood you got there mate. Luckily, I've got just the thing for that!

Go check out my in-depth album review about Neonlight's sophomore album, Vanity Fair, over here: https://www.reddit.com/uyvptw/

Or at least give the album a listen, it's really good!

Other Neurofunk things from this week:

Fatloaf, Subminderz, Malstrom - Free Guy EP
ChaseR, Malstrom - Faint / Construct
Tobax - Crazy Train
Transforma - The Death Cure EP
Cranium - Astronauts EP
Shadow Sect, Mollie Collins, Marianna Ray - Another Day
SCALEZ - No Mortals EP 💎

1. Ruzer - Callisto EP [Epidemic Electronic]

Recommended if you like: Net-ski, Camo & Krooked, T & Sugah

Every now and then I manage to stumble upon an artist that, even though I have literally never even heard of them in my life, has such a consistently awesome back catalogue that I just have to share them everywhere I can. Ruzer is one of these artists. Massive shout-out to /u/sofsofs for this particular discovery.

So, who is this mysterious newcomer Ruzer then? The answer: He's Swedish musician and producer Niklas Ahlström, born and raised in the university town of Uppsala. For some reason I strongly believed the name alone would already lead me to many more other facts and interviews, but turns out that Niklas Ahlström is an incredibly popular name over there. So Niklas is either a product advisor for "Hot dip galvanised strip steel", whatever that is, someone sitting on the board of Development Education, no I don't know which one, or an 19th century Kapellmeister and composer. They're all quite likely to be the answer. While scouring through the vast wastelands that are the 4th and 5th pages of the Google results for his name, I even found this amazing trip down the rabbit hole on /r/EDM from a year ago, in which the author was wondering what exactly happened to Niklas and why there were so many rereleases of his most famous tracks popping up under so many different names.

The answer? At some point he simply started putting out his music under a bunch of different aliases, rereleasing his earlier work with whatever alias fit the most. Whether this was a requirement by Epidemic Electronic, the royalty-free soundtrack providing company he's been releasing his music under, or whether he just wanted to separate his music better, we will never know. So which other names did Niklas come up with so far? First off, there are two inactive ones that I found: Pearce Roswell, an Acoustic Indie Pop alias he used from 2013 to 2014, and Crystal Shards, a name to release Pop stuff with from 2015 to 2016. Secondly, there's a couple that have still been active relatively recently. First Splasher!, his Dubstep alias, and oomiee, his Future Bass artist name, came along around 2016, then love for DnB began to be channeled into the alias Ruzer since 2019 and lastly there's Nothanks for all things Indie Pop since 2020. Before this royalty-free diversity in sound made him a very popular choice for YouTube intros and outros though, he was also nominated for an award in the Electronic genre at The Library Music Awards with Martin Carlberg in 2015, one of the only real facts I could find about Niklas other than the countless aliases.

In other words, Ruzer isn't quite a newcomer, seeing as he has nearly a decade of multi-genre experience, but that's nearly always the story with new artists breaking through, isn't it? Either they simply flew under the radar before, renamed themselves or got together with someone else to form a new group, in the end it always takes a decade of experience to get that overnight success. Anyway, even though a lot of his DnB might have been heard in some popular Twitch streams already, he's still very much an underrated figure in the DnB scene in my eyes. Aaanyway. Let's get on with it then, shall we?

This newest release of the Swedish producer is the Callisto EP. While the name certainly evokes thoughts of the Schnitzel-powered producers of our scene, the skiing artwork gives off more of a Netsky, or rather Net-ski, vibes, and lo and behold, that seems to be exactly what Ruzer was going for musically too! Early 2010s uplifting dancefloor vibes galore.

We start things with the title track Callisto, which immediately gives off some uplifting summer vibes in its intro, with various different feel-good melodies going at it, some funky, some synthy, all smile-inducing. We slow down a little, but soon enough, we manage to get over that hill and our fast-paced down-hill Ruzer-cruise begins. With drums that are both punchy and speedy, satisfyingly sleek synths and a clear-cut arrangement that knows what it needs to do, it really delivers on that promise of fast-paced high-energy vibes that a skiing trip would entail. Something that the next anthem, Turn Down, also excels in. Our downhill journey might start out smooth and Liquid-y enough, with a sublime piano loop and forward-pushing but not quite energetic drums, but once we hit that little ski jump, things start to really kick into high gear. Sure, we float in the air for a while, however what's really happening is we're gathering momentum for the inevitable moment we touch the ground again. As soon as we get back down, a warm wall of spectacular synths flies right into our faces and some really radical electric guitars start playing. It works so well.

It's now time for our most daring ride so far: The Summit slope! Sure, the way up on the lift is pretty chill, thanks to the warm blanket of heavily reverberated pianos, vocal samples and basses combined with the most relaxing drums so far. However, once we start our descent, we will quickly realise why this one is regarded as the most dangerous slope at this resort. Similar to the switches in Turn Down, we are now hit by this massive avalanche-causing bass earthquake that massages our ears just right, complemented by a drum loop that has had its energy turned up a few more levels too. Huge tune! Lastly, we've got Life Up And Down, which doesn't waste any time at all and gives us the nasty, almost Neuro-y basses straight away at the drop. Combined with even more happiness-inducing piano, guitar and synth melodies, Ruzer manages to represented the contrast, the up-and-down-ness, of our Skiing trip perfectly.

Uplifting high-energy Dancefloor all the way through, with a ton of catchy melodies and switch-up's that will make you want to rewind immediately. The perfect soundtrack for your next Skiing trip.

Other dancefloor things from this week:

Grafix - Half Life LP (🦀❤️)
T & Sugah - SKY LP
Cranston - What You Want 💎
Various Artists - Future Fire EP - Vol1 (Viper Presents) 💎
ShockOne, Lee Mvtthews - Thinkin About
The Arcturians, Defunk - Emotions
Exploid - Substance
Stonebank - Losing Control (Sophon Remix)
Millbrook - Choices (feat. Nova Sky)