Picks Of The Week (02.07.22

1. Various Artists - Divergence IV [Eatbrain]

Recommended if you like: Neuro

It's Neuro time, baby!

If you consider yourself in any shape or form a Neurofunk fan, you will know that when Jade's legendary Neurofunk label Eatbrain drops a new release, it's always worth checking out. Not only is the baseline of quality extremely high, every now and then they've also got real stand-out release that will make you fall in love with the genre all over again. Releases that I would consider worthy contenders of any Best Of The Year lists. Just this year I'd say they've already managed to do this twice, with Teddy Killerz' three-tracker Critical Damage and Nuvertal's Real Murder EP. Compilations, such as this week's fourth entry in the Divergence VA series, are a bit harder to rank in that regard, since any release with a huge amount of tunes tends to be a bit inconsistent in quality. However, in my opinion, Jade didn't just manage to represent all the different types of sounds within Neurofunk with his selection here, he also struck a great balance between allowing label veterans to shell out some bangers vs. giving label newcomers a platform to showcase their talents.

Obviously I can't talk about all 26 (!) tracks on the compilation here, that would just be madness. Instead, I'll talk a bit about my absolute highlights and I'll let you decide whether this compilation is worth your time (hint: it absolutely is!).

Pick 1: TR Tactics, Symplex - Halloween

My first pick is the aptly-titled Halloween, but before we get to the track itself, allow me to talk about the two names behind the track first: TR Tactics and Symplex. They have both been making the rounds in Neurofunk circles for quite a while now, but they still deserve a proper introduction in my eyes.

TR Tactics is the artist name of Neurofunk DJ/Producer Thomas Schobesberger from the beautiful Attersee in Austria, who has been active under this name for about a decade now! Alright, so the T in TR Tactics stands for Thomas, but who or what is the R then? Well, back in the day, after a few years of tearing up Dancefloors all over Austria under a different DJ name, Thomas met another Neuro enthusiast, René Sandhofer. They realised they had similar styles and thought, hey, why not team up? Thus, TR Tactics was born. They didn't just DJ together though, they started working together on tunes too! After the one-two punch of them winning DnB Arena's Optiv & BTK remix competition in 2012 and winning Rregula & Dementia’s Life on Earth remix competition shortly after, basically everything was going their way. Releases on labels like Dissected Culture, Citrus, Addictive Behaviour and Mainframe followed. Somewhere in the last few years, TR Tactics morphed into a solo project by Thomas, but that didn't stop the TR Tactics train from thriving. In recent years the tactician's tracks have been released via the likes of Blackout (!), C4C, Kosenprod, Hoofbeats, Trendkill and Code Smell. To top all of that off, he's also achieved second place in the "Worlds Best DJ" category at the Czech and Slovakian DnB awards!

Speaking of Czech Republic, let's give a quick rundown of the other artist in this exquisite collaboration: Symplex! Olomouc-based Erik Marušinec, as he's known in the real world, used to be a House producer back in the day, but once he discovered DnB through listening to some Aphrodite, he knew he needed to try his hand at this broken beat madness too. After his debut on Sun Side Recordings in 2010, he spread his wings further and further, leading to releases on Abducted, Future Funk, Citrus and Disturbed over the following years. From 2015 on, things really started taking off for him though. Not only did he become part of the illustrous Hoofbeats family in that year, he also won second place in the "Best Newcomer" category at the aforementioned CZ & SK DnB awards! The following year, things were amped up even further, with his track Virus winning second place in the "Track Of The Year" category, him getting second place in the "Best DJ" section and him winning the "Best Newcomer" gold trophy. Nowadays he's part of the regulars at Let It Roll and Beats For Love and releases on the likes of Hoofbeats, Red Light, C4C and Viper even.

So what did these two veterans come up with for their Eatbrain debut? Pure carnage, that's what! Right from the start, the duo infernale work hard to earn the Halloween title, with spooky atmosphere straight out of a horror movie. Soon enough, however, the "visiting the cemetery at midnight" vibes turn into us being actively chased by a indescribably horrifically disfigured monster, which is somehow still fast enough to catch up to us. Every meter we gain, every second we manage to sprint, is followed by this grotesque clown monster contorting its body in strange ways, gaining ground faster than we ever could. That's what I get from this absolutely manic call-and-response of the drop at least. Especially the response part of this structure is so damn well done that I had to rewind it a bunch of times the first time I heard this track. It's the perfect amount of crazy. Combine that with a bassline that relentlessly pushes you forward and some good old uncompromising snares, and you've got an absolute banger on your hand. Definitely my favourite of the album and probably one of my favourites this year, it's just so much fun!

Pick 2: Skellytn, MagMag - Particle Beam

For my second pick I've chosen someone, who you might not have heard of yet, but should most definitely get to know about as soon as possible: Skellytn!

Skellytn, aka Kaley Czerwonka, is a Neurofunk producer from Los Angeles, the city of dreams! As a graduate from the esteemed Icon Collective music school, she was always bound to disrupt whatever genre she would end up having a go at. In the end she decided to show the, let's be honest here, massively male-dominated world of Neurofunk who's boss. With a heavy emphasis on Cyberpunk aesthetics, both visually and sonically, she kick-started the Skellytn project in 2020 with a few self-released bangers, before joining certified legend Reid Speed's Play Me family of labels in 2021. Not just that though, she was also part of the award-nominated DnB compilation Critical Mass on Space Yacht and released on Emengy and Drama Club. All of this, however, was still only minor stuff compared to where her career took her earlier this year: In February, she released her absolutely massive debut album Neurocomputer on Play Me, with the remix album having followed a few months later! Not only does that make her the first-ever woman in North America to release a DnB album, with the release of her new banger Particle Beam she is now also the first woman on the Eatbrain roster - ever!

For this historic occasion, Skellytn reached out to London-based Dubstep MC-slash-rapper MagMag to spit some sick bars, setting the tone and introducing the titular Particle Beam. On the instrumental front Skellytn busted out some seriously epic strings to give Mag's performance some additional gravitas, with the occasional bass wave bursting out from below. This culminates in one seriously sick rolling banger of a drop, in which the rattling bass is bubbling along underneath while Skellytn flexes her drumming muscles quite effectively. Soon enough, however, the Particle Beam has become fully charged and fires off from its alien spaceship, leaving no survivors behind. A great label debut that's got me wishing for even more Skellytn bangers!

Pick 3: Konquest - Make The Grade

Last, but not least: Make way for Konquest!

London-based DJ-slash-producer Matthew Webb is not necessarily a completely new name to the scene, when you consider that he started his Block Dodger project in the early 2010s. After his debut on Metafiziq Recordings, he drew attention through a bunch of solid releases, including the first-ever release on NeuroFunkGrid and a release on legendary Trust In Music. However, most people will probably recognize the name from his various collaborations with Volatile Cycle and Barbarix. Not only did they release on Lifestyle Music together in 2017, they were also responsible for not just one but two (!) Boomtown-related bangers: They wrote the opening tune for Boomtown 2016's stage Sector 6 and the official opening and closing ceremony track of the 2017 edition! Since then, it seems to have become a little quiet around him. Don't let that quietness fool you though, he has been working harder than ever before, unleashing his new better-than-ever-before productions in 2020 under his new name, Konquest. After his comeback single The Siren's Call, he blasted out a lot of honestly sick Free Downloads, but the real Konquering has only just begun. In just a few weeks, his discography will not just include his banger on Neurofunk, What Else?, but also tracks on C4C, Close2Death and, of course, Eatbrain. Keep an eye out for this one!

But back to the track at hand for now: Make The Grade! Jesus Christ, where to even begin with this? Considering the relatively calm start and the 6 minute runtime, you might think this would take some time to get going. But nope. After not even half a minute of relative calmness, things start speeding up like crazy already and before you know it, the drop hits you. And it never really stops hitting you. On top of some extremely energetic fast-paced drums, Konquest blasts you with one sick combination of various Neuro basses after another, never letting you calm down for even one second. Well, the breakdown lets you breathe a little maybe, but other than that it's a relentless, masterfully crafted series of switchup after switchup after switchup of pure Neurofunk karnage. You won't even really notice the runtime, since you're too busy trying to comprehend the absolute chaos that is transpiring here. Absolutely huge tune.

Pick 4: Quick fire round

Before we conclude, allow me to quickly shout-out some other favourites: Nick and Shane aka Kaizen Flow show the world that they mean business on their label debut Blindspot, Ollie Kaye aka Cyntax sucks you in with his meticulously crafted flows on his Eatbrain debut The Sword, french Neuro badass The Clamps blasts away everything in his way on both Eternal Return, his collab with Shadow Sect, and Reaper, together with his Burr Oak mate Opsen, Zombie Cats teach us how to discipline our cats in German on the techy roller Aus and Russian talents Decent & Snapper, better known as Despersion, deliver one hell of a banger, with their track BNGR.

Look, the list of sick tunes on this compilation is sheer endless. At the end of the day you should just check it out yourself. You won't regret it, trust me.