Picks Of The Week (04.03.23

1. Solomon France - Locals Only EP [Viper Recordings]

Recommended if you like: Ipsiom, Pirapus, Simula (but like, if he was a surfer, so... Surfula?)

There's no one out there that quite does it like Solomon France. Even though he isn't even based in France but in the Sunburnt Country of upside-down Newcastle, the Artist Formerly Known As SØL has been making a ton of very surfable waves of biblical proportions with his unique approach to music production, ever since he started unleashing these bad boys in 2019. Since we talked about his Pilot solo debut in 2020, the certified impeccable rizz-haver has only gone and done some incredible things in the scene, from signing to the one and only Viper Recordings to collaborating with the likes of Blaine Stranger, Polygon and Venjent. While unique and fitting, he realised in April of last year that he would have to get rid of the SØL name to actually become searchable on any kind of website. The sølution? Using his legal name, Solomon John-Karle France! Well, parts of it at least. Considering how humouristic a lot of his online presence is, I kind of love that his middle name initials are JK though.

These past few months, Mr. France has been hard at work to create his biggest, most cohesive project yet: the Locals Only EP! So let's talk about that, shall we?

We kick our Tour de France off with Fall, featuring the lovely vocals of Moon Jelly. Since this is only the second time I've heard her underutilized ethereal voice on a DnB track, the first time being Hyukari's Escape on Destinations Vol. 2, which also featured Solomon's breakthrough hit Too Much, it feels a bit like a spiritual successor. A Fall-ow-up, so to speak. Right from the start, however, Solomon makes it clear that this is his tune, with some relaxing summery guitar strumming and just general beach atmosphere, creating the perfect foundation for the surfiest of Surf DnB tunes. While Moon Jelly, supported by Sol's very own background vocals, effortlessly guides us through the clear sky, we eventually swiftly nosedive right to the ground, where we're met with erratic flurries of colourful bleeps, bloops and pews performing their own unique tango with some wonderful big synth swooshes. While my ears might have needed some time to get used to these kinds of rhythms, I couldn't help but eventually fall in love with this delightful yet banging opener.

After this rather energetic introduction, we are taken on a chill one with Blame. Liquid is the very foundation for surfing after all. With long-time collaborator Alec Primavera delivering yet another amazing, emotionally-charged vocal performance, smoothly transitioning between a filtered, inner voice and a clearer, outer voice, Solomon didn't need to do that much to create a beautiful tune out of it, but the madman still put in some truly outstanding production work. After a brief yet fantastic guitar intro, the valves for this track's steady stream of smoothly flowing drums are kicked right open. However, while this river will continue to flow through most of the track, it's a couple seconds later when the instrumental makes the jump from great to amazing for me. In between all the other previously mentioned goodness and the guitar doing its thing, there are these vibrating, controlled explosions of colour that keep cropping up and they are just the best. The combination of uniquely distorted bass and superb synths just makes my ears feel all fuzzy. I should probably get that checked out.

Enough chilling in the sun, it's time to Wake Up! The long-awaited collaboration with KONKAI, formerly known as Bustre and also currently known holder of many strange yet somehow super sick dubs, has been teased in many a set, from various Fox Stevenson streams to the Liquicity Ground Crew boys Fryett and Lasyen cheekily throwing it in every now and then. With the earliest appearance of the tune (that I remember) being somewhere in 2021, it's no surprise that this one feels a lot like a throwback to the early days of the SØL crusade, with some of the clickiest of minimal jump up snares and the straight-up strangest of sound design going on. It's like a cloud of unnatural colour being expulsed from a giant otherworldly mushroom, hypnotizing your senses with its weirdness. The longer you listen, the more things jump into the mix, with my favourite one probably being the strange alien aircrafts flying around the place, while the drums are expanded upon to increase the pace a bit. It's really hard to describe the feelings this wonky SOLKAI wobbler evokes in you, it really is one of the most uniquely sounding tunes I've heard in a while. Kind of a banger though.

Alright, enough wonkiness for now, let's jump back into the sunny side, with Let You Down. Solomon is going all in on the summer vibes on this one, with waves crashing onto shore, relaxing yet gorgeous guitar play and what I could swear are actual seagulls in the background, and my god, is it ever working on me. Even while we're having these freezing temperatures outside, I already feel a little warmer just listening to this intro. As if that wasn't already enough loveliness, we are also getting another stunning vocal performance by man like Alec Primavera. I have still not gotten enough of it, even though it was originally released in October of last year. After allowing us to work out our vocal chords and hyping us up with some soft 4x4 action, you would probably expect all kinds of highly energetic things in the drop, but trust me, you are not prepared.

You see, the wonkiness isn't over at all. In another absolutely rickety drop, Solomon uses these immensely powerful Colour Bass inspired synth stabs to create a rhythm that's so goddamn strange and unique that I'll probably never find a double for it. If you're familiar with his output so far, you'll know that the wild world of Colour Bass is a big influence in a lot of his track compositions, which is in my opinion a big reason why his sound is just so damn fresh and also the reason I keep using colourful to describe sounds here. I don't think he has ever achieved this fusion of the genres as powerfully and just all-around cleanly as he did on here though. Of course, it's not your typical rhythm, it has its own unique groove going on that you simply don't hear anywhere else and my god, is it ever a beautiful melody he has created here. I can't overstate how much they did not let me down with this one.

Our day at the beach is sadly coming to an end, but we still got one more tune to go: In The Darkness. Equipped with a moody vocal sample and a rather ominous atmosphere, Mr. France already lets you know we'll be going into a darker, jumpier direction right off the bat. Even if you're unsure in the beginning, you'll just know what I mean once the digital drum blips join the fun. While I'm not much of a Jump Up guy the majority of the time, I was of course still willing to give Solomon the benefit of the doubt. Let's just say that if all Jump Up was as cool-sounding as what he produced here, I would be a massive fan. In a super catchy back-and-forth, a powerful implosion of sound first sucks out all the air around it for a few seconds, before unleashing its contained power by assaulting us with stabs of concentrated colour. Quite the great use of negative space to amplify certain sounds even further than usually possible.

Solomon France has been killing it with his various singles and collaborations for quite some time now, but the longer-form format of this 5-track EP allowed him to pack basically everything he is known for into one concise package: Stunning vocals, the summeriest of summer vibes, colourful bleeps and bloops, incredibly unique sound design and the wonkiest rhythms you'll ever hear. Outstanding.

Other Dancefloor from this week:

More Plastic, Sophon - Traveler
Mob Tactics - Beyond The Circus EP, Pt. 2
Blue Marble - Rodinia LP
10xx - Malfunction 💎
Genetics, OHKAY - Nobody Like You
Matt Maeson - Cut Deep (Krakota Remix)

2. Qo - Insectoid [Evolution Chamber]

Recommended if you like: Agressor Bunx, Mefjus, Gridlok

There are so, so many great artists out there. Due to me continuing to attempt to have a life while still pumping out these reviews, I sadly do not always manage to cover everyone that I want to on here, even if their music always is of great quality. Or should I say, Qo-ality? That's right, today we're finally talking about the Hoofbeats head honcho himself, Qo!

Since this is the first time I'm featuring him here, we gotta give him a proper introduction. Based in the heart of the Neurofunk-loving lands of Eastern Europe, or more specifically in Brušperk, Czech Republic, Petr Vicher has always been close to the drum and bass scene, with his exposure being as early as 2001. Over the years, Petr quickly went from raving to DJing, spreading the hard-hitting tunes he had grown to love all over the country, under his alias Qo. Yep, the name really is that old! As DJs often tend to do, Petr eventually became interested in producing his own sonics, with his debut Crack Party / Mechwarrior landing on Abducted Records in 2010. Sure, he also dipped his toes into Dubstep every now and then, but the majority of his output was already heavily leaning into the Neurofunk sound, leading to early releases on the likes of Trust In Music, Fatality Recordings, Close2Death, Citrus and Mindtech Recordings.

While his early work already consisted (qonsisted?) of a ton of goodness already, it was when he started working with Jade's legendary label Eatbrain around 2014 that he was really starting to connect (qonnect? Okay I'll stop for now) to a wider audience, including but not limited to none other than Noisia themselves. Just two years later, in 2016, this growing level of expertise and new-found network inside the scene became the foundation for Hoofbeats Music, the Czech-based DnB label for all kinds of vibes he founded with Computerartist and Joshu4. On said new platform, which I explored a bit more in my review for Kutlo's Variations EP, he continued to put out banger after banger, including a whole bunch of collaborations with the likes of Merikan, Trilo, Computerartist, The Clamps and Holotrope. Or should I say, qollaborations? While Hoofbeats is definitely his favourite platform to release on, he also appeared on Let It Roll and recently even Blackout, filling up his label bingo card quite nicely. He also creates these really cool wooden acoustic panels, but I think it's time to finally talk about the tune at hand here.

From starting out on Mindtech Recordings to releasing with James "Overtech" Peacock's Evolution Chamber, it's safe to say that Qo has always liked his tech, even dabbling in the maniacal machinations of the Technoid subgenre himself in the earlier days. Since he has never lost that love for this kind of heavy sound, he recently started a new project to relive these vibes, simply calling it "techstep 2023" at first. When James first heard the results of this nostalgic experiment, he was immediately over the moon and convinced Qo to sign it to his label, resulting in the release of the tune we're shining a spotlight on today, Insectoid! Just like the other insect-related tunes on the imprint, this one is an absolute monster of a tune, with these unavoidably massive bass stabs relentlessly going at it, beating your brain to a pulpy mush. In combination with the quick vocal sample hammering the title into you and the hard-hitting drums whipping you into shape, your senses are just constantly under attack, almost forcing you to move your body along to this madness.

What an absolute Qo-rker of a tune.

Other Neurofunk from this week:

Agressor Bunx - Frozen Orb EP
Skellytn - Biotechnology / System Overload
HighThere - Black Jungle VIP 💎