Picks Of The Week (06.05.23

0. Sub Focus - Evolve [EMI]

Recommended if you like: Wilkinson, Dimension, Metrik

Judging from my bursting inbox, most of you have already seen it, but just in case you haven't: We've had a full-length review of Sub Focus's third solo album, Evolve, on friday! Go check it out, it has all the background info you could ever want and then some about our boi Nick, an in-depth track-by-track breakdown and a bunch of punnery! Plus, a lot of interesting discussion about the album from you guys in the comments. Do I need to say more?

Other Dancefloor from this week:

Blooom - Drowning
Airports - NEED U HERE
METHOD, Amber Jay - Ignite VIP
FreqGen - Future 1996 (Kaixo Remix)
Valyd - Defender 💎
10xx - Lurk

1. Various Artists - Ceylon (High Tea Music Presents) 💎 [High Tea Music]

Recommended if you like: The newest tea about the best DnB newcomers

Come on, you should know by now that I can't resist a good compilation by ZAZU and T & Sugah's High Tea Music, especially not when they once again have so many great Hidden Gems™️ on there! As always, I'll stick to the usual compilation format, 3 in-depth picks, with a wrap-up at the end - let's go!

Pick 1: KNGHT - Next To Me

First, let's talk about KNGHT! As one of the most promising new stars from the bustling Belgian KNGHT-life, Rumst-based newcomer Sascha Deggenhardt actually began his journey way further back than you might realise. As a piano / guitar multi-instrumentalist, he graced all sorts of Pop/Rock bands since his early teens and even participated in a couple festival competitions, but soon enough, he wanted more. Or should I say, Moore? Oh yeah, you probably need some context for that one: Around 2015, him and a mate / maybe even mentor of his started a brand new DnB project, Mentor & Moore! However, after putting out a bunch of self-releases together, it was time for Sascha to go strictly solo around 2018. First simply as Moore, but soon enough, he became the KNGHT of the new republic we now know him as. Another whole lot of great self releases, bootlegs and remix competition entries later and it was finally time for some label releases, going from debut entries on Nu Venture's Elevation EPs to a remix on Celsius to his wonderful Don't Say Goodbye EP on Liquicity sister label Ridmic in the last few years!

Now he joins the High Tea fam with a tune so uplifting, so upbeat and so life-upendingly lovely that you just wanna dance the night (but not the KNGHT, he can stay) away: Next To Me. Not only does the almost overwhelmingly delightful vocal sample win me over every single time I listen, which is quite a lot, every single one of the gloriously cheery synth leads, each of the warm piano chords and all the tiny little melodic details all do an incredible job of hooking me in just as well! It's one of those tunes that immediately clicked with me, the exact kind of smile-inducing Dancefloor that High Tea just absolutely excels at and that I want to hear a lot of at their stage takeover at Let It Roll this year. Just fabulous!

Pick 2: Prank Sinatra, VÏKÆ - Answers

For our next tune, we jump across the globe, all the way to Wellington, New Zealand, the home of Cade Boyce aka Prank Sinatra! If you're a regular listener of one of the best radio stations out there, George FM, you might have actually already heard and probably also enjoyed Cade's track choices (...boyces?), as he is basically part of their the extended family (whānau!) at this point, with regular guest mixes and appearances at their live shows. Speaking of, he has slowly but surely built himself up to a bit of a legend, to say the least, when it comes to shows. Over a decade after his days as a resident DJ at "The Cock", he has become quite the regular on the lineups by the likes of Rhythm & Vines and all sorts of Audiology events, racking up a rather impressive list of artists he supported, from A.M.C to Netsky, from Sub Focus to Friction.

Around the time us non-Kiwis started regularly going into lockdown, Cade opened up a whole 'nother venue of his musicality: Production! First with bootlegs of Love To Give and Mixed Emotions, then in 2022 with his first original, the UK bassline banger Rudebwoy, and now with his first-ever DnB release that has been in the works since around 2 years: Answers! With Ukrainian-born, fellow NZ-based, queer singer/songwriter Veronika Bell, also known as VÏKÆ, on the ethereal yet powerful vocals and the instrumental following suit with flurries of beautiful synths and distinctly hard-hitting Dancefloor drums, Answers' overall vibe might stray quite far away from the expectations set by his wall-shaking bootlegs, but it honestly works out incredibly well. Lovely tune altogether!

Pick 3: Howlan - All For You

We finnish the detailed picks off with Howlan. As you can tell from my not-so-subtle pun, this fella, known to the government as Eetu Onikki, is from the wondrous lands of the Finns! In the icy regions of Tampere, Eetu has been playing the guitar and the double bass basically forever, but has also taken a liking to cooking up both DnB and House-y electronic type beats around 2018. Now that I look it up, Tampere is actually warmer than where I'm from. Must be all that heat he is producing! His first actual releases started rolling in around 2021, with the first one to hit the shelves being City Lights. Among all the self-released multi-genre goodness, Eetu has also tried his hands at a couple remix competitions, creating some banging DnB bootlegs and participating in a few producer competitions, with his absolutely sick submission for MOONBOY's GENESIS competition actually ending up in the spotlight video.

Now, it's finally time for his first label release, All For You, on the mighty High Tea! As he has already proven with his last few self-released bits, Howlan is able to craft some top-notch sounds and so it doesn't come as much of a surprise that he went all-out on this one too, just maybe not in the way you would expect it. Instead of new-school sound design trickery, we are treated to a marvellously nostalgic, uplifting synth lead and a lovely vocal sample on top of the warm embrace that is the bass. Might sound straight-forward enough, but it's both the little details, like the micro rewind-scratches to give the melody more oomph, and especially the progression of it all that make this tune stand out. For instance, during the tail end of the first drop, the wonderful melody is already chopped-up into a machine-gun fire of loveliness, but once we get to the second drop, the melody is sliced up even further, with additional gaps in between each stab, giving it all a completely different flow.

Definitely keep an eye on this one. I'm sure the festival crowds will be howlan' his tunes soon enough!

Conclusion

As always, there is way more goodness to check out than I can fit into here. We've got more upbeat Dancefloor vibes from Cursed Sun, calming vibes from Dim Bolt and ~~Quan Hoang Minh Nguyen~~ Quoone, straight-up bangers from Natty Lou & Nes Mburu, Entrophix and YARN, unique kinds of tunes I can't quite group together with just two to three words from Tengu & Montiix, Fryware (formerly known as JFRY) and Maykors, and even a Speed House remix from John Dee.

In other words, High Tea dish up yet another excellent selection of up-and-coming talents!