Picks Of The Week (21.10.23

1. VRUM - Phrases EP 💎 [Boundless Beatz]

Recommended if you like: Misanthrop, Freshney, Jon Tho

The eastern bits of Germany have been a consistently great destination for DnB lovers for quite some time now, with big acts like Neonlight and more recently Tom Finster and even Blooom setting up shop in Leipzig, Berlin having quite the renaissance thanks to wonderful new event serieseses by GEST and Shrouded, and Dresden's UTM crew putting on damn huge shows with their bi-yearly Awakening/Redemption mini-festivals. An environment this positively sick isn't just great for ravers and listeners like you and me though, it also helps foster some incredible new talents - especially in Leipzig! NOVALU, Cuepric, CPTR, every single one of them worth checking out. Now, allow me to expand that list with another equally recommendable entry, my Hidden Gem Of The Week™️: VRUM!

While I'm not 1000% sure whether he identifies more with the Leipzig or the Dresden scene at this point as he usually mentions both in his artist bios, I think the fact that Vincent "Vrummie" Willenberg has been a core pillar of the legendary Leibz'sch-based Boundless Beatz collective since like 2019, shelling down some proper bangers in the late and great Distillery, should give the win to Hypezig. That's not quite where this particular story begins though: Vincent actually cut his DJing teeth at raves for his local "youth parliament" association! After this relatively unusual start into the music scene, he quickly started working on his own productions, which he eventually started rolling out in 2019 on German label Subplate Records. In mid-2020, he already ticked off that inter-inter-international release bucket list checkbox with a slick double banger on Welsh label Incurzion Audio, but most of his future releases were either distributed by his Beatz crew or himself, with his Cuepric collaboration on Best Newcomer Label nominated In The Lab in 2022 being a quite notable exception. However, now, for this debut EP of his, he returns to his hometown label again, so let's talk about them a bit!

Boundless Beatz, the brand, is basically the brainchild of bold drum and bass busy-bee audite. Back in 2005, his universitary ambitions brought him to move to the L to the Eipzig, where he was promptly introduced to the great local music scene by Metasound. Not too long after, the dynamic duo would start throwing their own events and audite even became a regular host on Metasound's 3tes Ohr radio show, which eventually lead him to create his own programme, the Boundless Beatz radio show, in 2007. A year after, the young brand would start appearing on some of the local lineups, behind audite's name, but at this point officially branded Boundless Beatz events were only a matter of time. Mostly on his own, audite threw raves focusing on any genre Breakbeat culture has to offer, ranging from Dubstep and Raggae Jungle to Liquid Funk or 90s Hiphop. While putting all these raves together on his own certainly allowed him all the creative freedom in the world, you can probably imagine that that level of stress is not sustainable for super long.

To help out with the growing wants and needs of Boundless Beatz, Dubbalot became part of the team in 2013, with MC Amon Bay joining soon after. After already championing all sorts of up-and-coming DJs on their lineups for years, this threefold increase in personpower allowed them to push this ethos further than ever before by opening up their very own label department in 2015! While they are maybe not as actively pushing out releases as some of their contemporaries, they still managed to amass a great catalogue from the likes of Wintermute, Submarine, Fade, Kjubi and, well, VRUM! After his first few outings on the label with Stimulation / Synapse and Horizon, it's now finally time for a bigger project to grace our ears, his debut EP, Phases!

We kick things off with Phase numero uno: An exercise in Control. Uniquely minimalistic snares, larger-than-life analog synths wandering the auditory (audite-ory?) planes, a bassline that is sure to rattle the deepest of your innards, balls of energy almost spiraling out of control from the sheer power surge - everything works together to maximize the interstellar atmospheric vibes, while still giving off that feeling of minimalism. Next, we crank up the volume and move on to the title track, Phases! On top of funky drum rhythms that'll make anyone involuntarily sway side to side, VRUM unleashes a truly massive bassline, so heavily distorted it can barely be contained, with a set of vocal chops, otherworldly whirring sounds, and another, more chaotic, out-of-control-spiraling bass completing the picture.

We somehow managed to find another step further up the ladder of epic escalation, with Dusk, once again featuring the one and only Jonas Cuepric Meyer himself! Right away, das deutsche duo sets the out-of-body experience mood perfectly with a vocal so heartbreakingly performed, it doesn't matter you don't quite understand the lyrics. Once that state of mind has been firmly established, ridiculously large waves of beautiful distortion crash over us one after another, with our only escape from this onslaught being the swift bass stabs interrupting it all every now and then, while heavily syncopated drums continuously slap us from left to right and front to back. It's the combination of said madness and the gorgeous yet ominous, at times even dramatic synth melodies that really make the track for me though - you'll see what I mean. As if all that wasn't amazing enough, we end this journey with a wonderful BPM switchup way further down the ladder, to, I wanna say, House tempo. I don't know my genres outside of DnB that well, alright!

Lastly, we drift off into the abyss one more time, with the EP closer Drifting. Continuing the trend from its predecessor, we set up the atmosphere with a rather unusual vocal sample, this time coming from what sounds like a monastery's choir, before the tremendously beautiful triple threat synths that'll keep us company throughout the tune start up their engine. However, the real fun begins shortly after, when the ground starts shaking uncontrollably - it's hard to overstate just how humongous these bass growls underneath really are. After this impact- and contrastful first act, we start winding down a bit, focusing more on the delightful choir and atmospheric vibes until fading out into nothingness.

At times VRUMbunctiously VRUMbling, at times VRUMinatingly VRUNic, but always a pleasure to listen to. Or as we say in Germany: Wo ein Willenberg ist, ist auch ein Banger!

Other deep and dark stuff from this week:

Eth:er - Temporal EP 💎
Various Artists - Atlas / 3
Various Artists - NËU V, Pt. 1
Monika & Akuratyde - An Ocean Apart Vol. 2
NordOst, Incorporate - Honkai/Wilderness 💎