Picks Of The Week (09.07.22

1. Various Artists - Liquicity Festival 2022 LP [Liquicity Records]

Recommended if you like: enjoying one of the best festivals on this planet

This is my way of telling you guys that I have been at Liquicity Festival this past weekend! Or that I will have been, I guess. I'm writing this way ahead of time after all. Maybe I'll get lost on the way, who knows. What I do know is that Liquicity is celebrating the return of its massive summer festival with an equally mammoothian (surely that's a word) compilation! Not only does it feature the very best of the last few years of Liquicity channel uploads, we've also got 11 brand new tracks to feast on - this is where I come in. The usual bigger releases rules apply: I'll talk about my favourites and give a quick summary of the rest. Let's go!

Pick 1: Synth System, Ayah Marar - Wide Awake

First off, let's talk about a new name, Synth System! While the name itself is new, the producer behind it all has been around in our scene for quite a while now. In fact, James Smith, from the town of Haywards Heath, has always been drawn to music. From mastering the guitar to absolutely smashing it on the drums to playing and composing songs in bands, James managed to accomplish quite a bit in his early years. However, things really kicked into high gear when he started trying out this whole production thing. Come 2009 he was unleashing his very first tracks under the moniker of High Maintenance. Yep, that High Maintenance, who did the absolute best lockdown streams ever in 2020. Back to the early 2010s though. Just two years after his first output, he was already signed to Shimon's Audioporn and Disaszt's Mainframe, the former being the home for the majority of his releases over the next few years. Outside of these two, he could also be found on labels like Monstercat, Overtech and, quite recently still, Korsakov. After 12 years of smashing the productions as High Maintenance though, James felt it was time for a change. With the official release of his highly sough-after remix of Sub Focus - Last Jungle he ushered in a new era in 2021, the era of Synth System. His debut on Viper Recordings, together with Korsakov label manager AL/SO, followed just a few months later. Fast-forward to today and we are now celebrating his very first Liquicity release!

Alright, so what did Mister Elevated Preservation bring to the table then, you ask? An absolute anthem, of course! Not only did James bring his signature weighty Dancefloor drums to the presentation, he also made sure to include an absolutely heavy guitar riff that's at the same time rough-sounding while cleanly-produced and nostalgia-triggering yet futuristic as hell. In combination with the systematically catchy synth melody, I can't help but be reminded of the older Delta Heavy sound, but with a modern touch that's distinctly him. This processing isn't just used on the guitars and basses though, he also worked his futuristic nostalgia magic on the great performance of Liquicity veteran vocalist Ayah Marar, who he got on board for the track. Just one hell of a great track, really.

Pick 2: Low:r, Blooom - I Got Your Love

Next up, a name I bring up at every occasion, paired up with a name I should've talked about way sooner already: Blooom and Low:r! I'll spare you the repeated history lesson on Blooom, man straight outta Pampa, after all you can just read what I had to say about his Liquicity debut EP back in January. Horsham-based Low:r on the other hand, will be examined further!

Just like James, Ben Downton, as Low:r is known outside of the music business, had quite the accomplished musical youth. Unlike him, however, Ben was a violin player! Not just any old violinist though, he managed to work his way into the West Sussex Strings, with whom he performed all across the UK. Of course, that's not the direction he kept on going forever. 12 years ago now, in 2010, he uploaded his first tune to his SoundCloud, a Dubstep remix of a Lily Allen tune. As Morah he continued putting out music in all kinds of genres, from Electro Swing to Downtempo (currently resisting the urge to make a low:r tempo joke). However, one thing was already quite clear: Ben was a huge fan of DnB. His 2013 Sentinel EP on Rabbeat Records was already chock-full of lush liquid vibes, a niche he would keep on exploring among all his other genre experimentations over the years. Slowly but surely his whole feed became DnB until 2016 rolled around and he decided it was time for a rebrand to, you guessed it, Low:r. Just for the sake of the pun I want to say he low:red his standards, but if anything, he did the opposite! After getting into the rhythm of releasing under this new name on the likes of Soul Deep Digital and Such Toomasive, it didn't take long for him to appear on the rosters of labels like Terra Firma, Soulvent, Spearhead, Fokuz et al, ProgRAM and Galacy, Liquicity's sister label for all things liquid, where he has been putting out music of extremely high quality for years now.

I'm a huge fan of both artists involved, basically. So when I saw these two working on the same track in the compilation's tracklist, I was expecting all sorts of things. Both have a quite bubbly, funky style to them a lot of the times, so that made the most sense in my head. I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried. It didn't take long for that realisation to hit either, since the buildup is already uncharacteristically ominous, only the vocal sample stands out as Blooom-esque. Suddenly, these huge sirens start blasting out their alarms, sending chills down my spine. Before I could even begin to recover from this tonal whiplash (compared to the rest of the album that is), Low:r and Blooom already fire up a whirlwind of high-speed and even high:r-impact breaks, super-charged sirens and lots and lots of vocal chopping. Absolutely ridiculous tune and definitely one of my favourites of the whole album. #Liquicitechy2022.

Pick 3: Genetics - Scars

Third pick, third producer who has been going through some name changes before landing on Liquicity. Let's talk about Genetics! A lot of people might know Harry Telfer as a passionate protography/video guy, who has been working together with MUZZ on various projects from artworks to the Promised Land live show, but he's of course also the person behind the up-and-coming multi-subgenre specialist Genetics! The real beginning of the Guildford-based multitalent's musical career was around 2018 though, as part of the ruthlessly wild Jump Up duo Xyphon with his mate Tom. Several huge labels in the scene like Serial Killaz and Down 2 Earth were home to their relentless music, with their collaboration EP with Harry Shotta and DRS on Showtime Music probably being the highlight. Around late 2019, however, they wanted go their separate routes instead. As anyone who has ever played an online game will know, it's hard to find a good name that isn't already taken, which is why Harry had to abandon his first solo rebrand, Artifact, in favour of his current one, Genetics! Then, in 2020, it was finally time for the solo debut: Buffalo Stance, featuring Sub Zero, Miss Trouble and T95, the solo project of the other half of Xyphon! The year after, Genetics had the privilege of being the face of the very first release of Liquicity's brand new sublabel for up-and-coming artists, Ridmic, with his diverse Let You Go three-tracker. From there things lead to releases on ProgRAM, Galacy, DeVice and, now finally, Liquicity itself!

The fun thing with Genetics is, you never know what you'll get with a new track by him. Buffalo Stance or Why make you think Harry will throw out some more sick foghorns at you, Let You Go is more straight-forward Liquicity Dancefloor and The Grey or Upside Down are just soul-soothing. This new single, Scars, is a bit of a happy mix of the last two categories. While it features some bouncy drums and the type of sirens you might come across in a Dancefloor anthem played at the main stage, it also leans heavily into the relaxing, summer-vibe Lunar Stage side of Liquicity with its perfectly chosen vocal sample and synth melodies that will calm you down no matter how stressful your day was. Just beautiful all around.

Conclusion

Of course you find some more seasoned veterans on the compilation too, like anthem-machine Voicians with his Dancefloor number Keep Me Under, one half of De Toeterboys, Mister Ernst Edlan, with a lovely liquid take on the Liquicity classic Cold Green Eyes, or Kove's extremely heavy Warehouse remix of T & Sugah's Be There. Among all these veterans we've of course also got some space for more up-and-coming prodigies, like Coastal with his atmospheric Liquid vibe Still Remember and Jon Void with his lyrical masterpiece Everytime. For the liquid heads there's also a fresh Dustkey VIP of his wonderful tune Keeping Yourself Warm and the marvellous Deep Blue by none other than Hiraeth. Last, but definitely not least we've got man like Dualistic teaming up with my favourite boy band The Outsiders for one of the most unique tunes on the whole LP, Out Of Breath. I've heard someone call their style "Glitchquid" and that's what I'm going with now too.

A most wonderful collection of classic and fresh tunes, provided by a diverse roster of amazing Liquicity artists.