Picks Of The Week (06.08.22

1. Klinical - Destined EP [Overview Music]

Recommended if you like: Alix Perez, Workforce, Visages

Yay, I'm back! And so is one of the best deep and dark, minimal DnB artists: Klinical!

With the mountain of great EPs and singles this guy has put out over the last few years, I was 100% sure I had covered him at some point in all of this. Somehow, I didn't! So we gotta catch up on him a little bit, before we get to the music, but if you follow these regularly you knew that was coming already. So let's go!

Nowadays he's sharing a flat with YAANO in the city where DnB dreams are made of, Bristol, but Daniel "Klinical" Paget was actually born and raised in the jewel of the British south coast, Southampton. Even in the very early days, even before putting any music out, he's had quite a few creative avenues that he was pursuing, most notably his small movie production firm Flux Productions. In 2015 he made the jump from producing documentaries and experimental films to producing Jump Up. I mean, that's just the next logical isn't it? Inspired by the crazy student nights he and Fergus, better known as Kanine, hosted at the local Junk club, which, for the record, is the actual name of the venue and not me taking a shot at the Southampton scene for no reason, he created this gully Jump Up riddim ready to tear up the dancefloors, which was eventually released on Frog On Acid's FROGORAMA 2 compilation. If FROGORAMA wasn't such a fun word to say, I probably wouldn't even have mentioned this though, since he very quickly pivoted over to more minimal, deep and dark sounds very shortly after.

Right from the get-go, his ability to create crazy club clatterers with clinical precision landed him immediate support by the boys over at Noisia Radio. Soon enough, Lifestyle Music's Peter Piper Maxted got Daniel a release of his own on the label, which came to be the start of a long history together. A few years later, when Peter split off to create his very own label, Overview Music, Klinical was one of the first names on the list of artists that should represent Overview's sound. After a feature on Overview's very first compilation, it was his first solo EP on there, the Around Me EP, that really took him to a whole 'nother level. Other than continueing to be a regular on Overview, his journey has also taken him to labels like Skankandbass, Flexout, Context Audio and, the pivotal pinnacle of Klinical originals, Critical! Since 2021, you can also hear him experimenting with all kinds of other non-DnB genres under his new two flights alias, but today is about his new Klinical release, the Destined EP!

We kick things off with the wonderfully moody Lost Vanity. Basically right from the start, Klinical shows us what to expect: Rolling drums keeping things flowing neatly, a heavily processed vocal sample setting the mood and a whole bunch of staggering staggered synth action. Might sound like a lot of these types of "Deep Liquid" kind of tunes out there, but Klinical puts so much thought and effort into how all of these elements play together and has such a talent for stunning atmospheres that the sheer beauty of it all will still make you melt in your seat. I was already impressed with how the different synths sounded on their own in the intro, but when I heard how satisfyingly they were arranged in the drop I couldn't help but fall in love.

Speaking of falling in love, next up we've got Together on our list and man, do I ever love this tune! With up-and-coming vocalist Shady Novelle, who you might know from collaborations with Mozey, Benny L or Workforce, serenading us with some seriously stunning soulful singing, there really wasn't much left to do for Klinical to make this a great tune. He could have chucked this onto anything and I would have loved it. However, he still got up and built a truly beautiful soundscape to go along with it, the mad lad! Sure, the atmosphere crafted by the reverb-heavy melodies and energy coming from the rolling drums is great and all, but the clear highlight has got to be the powerful rush of goosebumps I get every time these quick-firing synths do their thing. Nothing but love for this one.

Next up, we've got the absolute vibe that is the title track Destined. Literally everything in this, from the vibey synth stabs and loungey basses to the twingly main melodies and the soulful vocal sample, makes you feel like you're chilling in the coolest place on earth, while still having that Klinical atmosphere to it. Only when I started writing this sentence, I noticed how many things are going on in the composition of this, but at no point do you feel overwhelmed with it, everything just blends together perfectly. Lastly, we're delving deep into something more sinister, on All I Need. Compared to its predecessors, the drama levels in the atmosphere have been increased tenfold, with waves of otherworldly war horns creating the sense of a scary unknown entity approaching, basses that take you down to some truly dark places, moody synths bleeping and blooping into the mix every now and then and yet another vocal so good I can't get enough of it.

If you read it all together, it might seem like it's just kind of the same thing four times. It never feels like it though. Sure, all of the tracks on here are part of the "Deep Liquid" family of genres, but each stop in our journey here is so meticulously crafted, so well-produced, so beautiful in its use of synths, vocals and atmosphere, that each of them feels like an entirely new experience. I might be a little biased though, as this is my absolute favourite Klinical style, which I will never get enough of. However, I'm confident that even for someone who isn't familiar with him, this EP will hold up as something of extremely high quality. In other words: Klinical did it again.

2. Various Artists - Matter:1 EP 💎 [In The Lab Recordings]

Recommended if you like: Puzzle, [BORDERS], Low:r

Seems like the theme of this week is "Things I should have covered a long time ago already". For quite a while, In The Lab have been pumping out honestly incredible tracks in the general area of experimental/techy DnB by some extremely unknown people, most of which I didn't even know before. And I know most artists at this point! Since they released their very first paid release this week, the Matter:1 compilation EP, I thought we should talk about them a little on here. So let's do that then!

First, we need to go way back, into the before-times, back to the ancient lands of 2019. Andy Tiller and Kenny Dean weren't happy with the state of DnB events in Northamptonshire, so they took matters into their own hands, resulting in the In The Lab Events series being born! There might have been a few precursors before the name became official, but the first events you could find under this specific name were their Mind 'n' Bass events, with which they raised a ton of funds for the mental health charity Mind. On the online side of things, they also started up a mix series, for veterans and newcomers alike, featuring artists like Mountain, Leniz, PRFCT Mandem, Mitras and the best 9-year-old DJ around, FLAR3. Since they couldn't continue their normal event series in 2020, for some strange unknown reason, they started up a whole online streaming event series, Goosetek, in collaboration with Wonky Goose Audio. Somewhere around this time they also started their interview format In The Lab Q & A, on which they asked artists from all over the scene, from Koven, Telomic and Degs to Ripple, Murdock and Protostar, among many others, all kinds of hard-hitting questions.

It wasn't until 2021 that they decided to venture out into the releasing side of things though. Since the name "In The Lab Events" was a weird name for a label, they decided to rebrand the whole thing to In The Lab Recordings. Since their first Free Download release from newcomer Junger, they've already featured 20-ish artists on their label. From names I've actually featured on here a bunch of times, like Puzzle and [BORDERS], to names I'm very much a fan of but haven't gotten a chance to feature on here yet, like Massive Zebra, Default Noise and Ewan Bristow, to artists that were completely new to me at the time, like Everbeing, Hyperlynx and subcurrent, there is a ton to explore in that list. If you remember my opening paragraph, you will know that this is not what we're talking about today though. Today it is time to talk about Matter:1, my Hidden Gem Of The Week™️!

The five-tracker opens with the uniquely sounding soother Can't Escape by Canadian producer and ITL veteran Aaron Payne, featuring Stuart Rowe on vocals and production, under his brand new Ezro alias. A heavily syncopated tuple rhythm (yes I just made that up), composed of snappy, clappy snares and a deeply moody synth backdrop, is contrasted with various other rhythmic elements, including a wave of acid-y 16th notes, resulting in something I don't think I've heard in this form yet. This rather experimental journey is followed up by something that keeps the soothing vibes going, but is structured in a more straight-forward way: Incitement by Elder, who you might know from his debut on Pick'n'Mix a while ago. With a wonderful vocal sample, a cheeky drum loop bouncing so effectively that my head just has to start wobbling too and some colourful synths going on a supremely satisfying melodic journey, the Norwish-based newcomer effortlessly bounced his way into my "artists to follow" list.

Speaking of, just two weeks after I stumbled upon the Leipzig-based producer Cuepric via a collaboration with another artist, I see a remix of his popping up again on here. Coincidence? I think not. The remix I'm talking about here is his spin on SCARFIE's and BELS' self-released Moment Now. Instead of the uplifting dancefloor vibe of the original, everything has been reworked into this super interesting techy version of itself, with lovely synths that I can't even describe properly, basses that blow the original out of the water and various variations on the flow of it all. Just like this great remix, our next artist has also made the jump from Dancefloor to techy newschool goodness. I'm of course talking about TER3NCE and his absolutely incredible tune Monster. Just by listening to the buildup, full of quick-firing synths floating through time and space and menacing basses, you can tell there's something special coming, but trust me, you are not prepared for what this Dutch newcomer has in store for you. The aforementioned quick-firing synths have been fine-tuned into an even quicker-firing whirlwind of incredibly powerful newschool techy stabby stabs, playing call and response with a slightly slower, drastically more dramatic-sounding wind gust of knives hurled towards you. And man, does it sound great! In the second half we even get a little Halftime version of it, before he turns the speed knobs all the way back up for one hell of a finale.

Speaking of finale, there's one more track to go: Phadix - History. In a full circle moment, the UK-based producer turns the energy levels down to the levels of soothing Liquid once more for this EP closer. A simple yet effective vocal providing something catchy to vaguely sing along to, a set of smooth drums giving the head something to nod along to and a reoccurring wave of unique synths contributing something for the brain to process, just great all-around.

In short: In The Lab smashed their paid release debut, with great tracks from all over the spectrum, by artists you might have never heard of before.