Picks Of The Week (13.05.23

While I obviously love diving deep into an established artist's history, I have come to realise that I've neglected the Hidden Gems™️ a little lately. So, let's change that, with a double whammy feature of incredibly talented yet still rather unknown artists! That's right, we're doing a Hidden Gems™️ special!

1. Submonitor - Jupiter 💎 [Stellar Audio]

Recommended if you like: Buunshin, Psynchro, Screamarts
Listen: SoundCloud (it's a free download!) | Spotify

Let's start with a name that has been causing one hell of a ruckus just a bit more than a month ago, when he premiered his very first tune (!) on Blackout's Ada(m)ptations series: Submonitor!

Born and raised in both the southest and the westest corner of the British Isles, also known as Cornwall, Adam Able has had a rather quiet upbringing. Well, I'm actually just assuming that, because someone who has had this much raw Metal in their life from this early on is probably unable to harm a fly. While the dread-locked fan of The Room has spent a considerable amount of time in the pursuit of the sickest guitar riffs out there, as part of his Metal band Lane End, he also developed an incurable affection for Drum and Bass, as part of the free party raving crowds in Cornwall. Inevitable-y (gotta keep the able part), as he moved over to London, this affection grew from "a sizeable portion of his playlists are D&B" to an unstoppable force leading him down the treacherous path of producing his own, unspeakable-y large tunes. That's basically it! Other than "Right Now" on the aforementioned Blackout compilation, there are literally no other Submonitor productions available for us mere mortals. Until last friday, that is!

His second and third offering now comes as a package deal on the venerable, sensationally underrated Bristolian-slash-Welsh label Stellar Audio. Honouring the name to the fullest, the label founded and run by Iwan "Paarsec" Lewis recently celebrated 3 years of their excellent existence, with superb releases all over the techy newschool spectrum. After a series of unbelievable-y high quality compilations under the Black Hole banner, including the fantastic series finale in the form of a huge remix project, they pivoted over to another overarching theme with the SOL Series. Instead of a couple underrated artists being sucked into one supermassive black hole at once, this series shines a full spotlight on just one artist at a time, 2-4 tracks at a time. After honestly extraordinary entries from Impartial, [BORDERS], Imou and my boi Puzzle, it is now time for the fifth (out of eight) edition, Jupiter, by, well, Submonitor, of course.

We kick this particular gold nugget of a release off with the declaration of war that is Wax Without Honey. I'm not sure who Adam is waging war against, but one thing's for sure, with weapons like that in his arsenal, I'm firmly on his side. Although it might feel like we're getting close to the drop soon after contemplating our existence with some stunning atmospheric work for a solid minute, this intergalactic cannon of a tune is only just getting started! As slowly as it is surely, the war horns build themselves up from meager grumbles to wall-shaking acts of aggression, with melancholic melodies, a pounding rhythm and a sheer endlessly upwards spiraling riser behind it. After two and a half minutes, we drop out of the whole madness for a few seconds, leaving only the melody to prime us for what's to come, before unleashing utter hell onto every unsuspecting listener. Seriously, while obviously very long, the buildup is, first of all, incredibly well executed and, second of all, results in one of the most massive drops you will have heard in a while, all while still retaining an aura of mystery thanks to its wonderful lead. This is honestly one of my favourite tunes of this year so far, absolutely ridiculous.

Following that up with anything would be quite an ambitious endeavour, because how are you gonna keep up the quality if your first tune is already this good? That's probably why the flipside of this honey-phobic opener, Ambitis, instead strives for way more subdued sound. Relatively speaking! For instance, while not as expansive as its counterpart, Ambitis' buildup is still full of beautiful yet hype-inducing sound trickery. Instead of dropping literal weapons of mass destruction on us during the drop, Adam only lightly grills our bottocks with his heavy-hitting, uniquely designed bursts of bass-y flames. Like the famous frog, we are slowly getting accustomed to higher and higher temperatures, until Adam turns up the heat way past the boiling point in the second half, fully scorching everything in his path.

Seriously impressive all around. Not just intensely heavy and extremely cleanly produced, but thanks to a focus on satisfying progression and a bit of unusual structuring also a breath of fresh air, putting a ton of established artists to shame. And it's a free download!

Other heavy things from this week:

Various Artists - Riot 4 EP
Zardonic, Mechanical Vein - Death By The Bassline
Absu_NTQL - Premise / Conclusion
Shannan - DANGEROUS
State Of Mind - Shout
Skellytn - War Machine

2. Sol Pillars - Sensations/Together 💎 [Locked Concept]

Recommended if you like: Klinical, Koherent, Beeson

From one of the hotspots for DnB talent to one that isn't necessarily talked about very often: let's talk about South African talent Sol Pillars!

With a basis of operation in Johannesburg, Liam Thomas has been on a musical path since at least a decade, the earliest stop (I can find) being a guitarist gig in the band Mortal Dawn in the early 2010s. Eventually(am), the genre tides started to turn towards the drums and the basses, with Liam debuting the Sol Pillars project in 2017, with the Respawn EP. The name does make me think there's more history there, but if that's the case, Liam has hidden it well! While building up a great portfolio of self-releases, the chosen name proved to be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Sol Pillars became an actual pillar of the Johannesburgian scene, with regular appearances on the various event lineups in the area and even a job at local radio station Broadcast X! A proper Li-ambassador of the South African DnB scene! In 2020, he (li-)amped his musical career efforts up even further with his first of many label outings, on Rubricate Records. By now, he has (li-)amassed a list of releases on Propaganda011, Calibrate, Bay 6, Modular Carnage and, since the release of Sensation/Together last Friday, also Locked Concept! Don't worry, I'm gonna cool it with the Liam puns now.

Ever since being founded by Lockjaw and a few close friends in 2014, the Australian label Locked Concept has not only been a platform for Mr. Jaw to present his most personal output, it has also built itself up to become a treasure trove for all sorts of interesting musical experiments from artists all around the globe. Always championing new sounds and artists, it has been the home for early releases by the likes of Tellus, Frame, Nemy, Velle and Kuttin Edge, each more unique sounding than the other. In other words, the perfect place for a Sol Pillars release! So let's talk about that, shall we?

On the A-side we've got Liam's first foray into the wonderful world of vocal processing, with Sensations featuring up-and-coming vocalist Lara! Fun fact: even though her social tag is literally "namesnotlaura", I still almost called her by the wrong name. I should probably get some sleep soon. But first, the tune! Not only did ~~Laura~~ Lara deliver a wonderfully dreamy vocal that instantly transports you to another dimension, Liam also pulled out all the stops to do the same, with a captivating arrangement of cosmically compelling synths on top of snippy, well-flowing drums. Always keeping the listener on their toes, Liam transitions through a couple of variations with his sublime synths, before completely blindsiding us with the attack of the bass™ in the second half. Wonderful tune!

As you might remember, it is not just a simple single, it is bundled together with a banging B-side, Together! Definitely more experimental in nature, Together takes us on a trip through the deepest depths the human ear allows, with the brilliantly unorthodox basses attacking only the subbiest of regions. As if that wasn't unique enough already, Liam also uses this opportunity to flex his drumwork skills, effortlessly switching between rhythms to create a really unique sense of progression and flow.

Over the past few years, Liam has really carved himself a niche of incredibly intriguing deep and darkness to flourish in, and this new one fits right into that. A fascinating explorations of the more unique corners of the minimal DnB genre.

Other deep and dark things from this week:

NCT, Becking, Chase - Momentum
Rockwell - Gramma
Nami - Data One Remixed
BassDubbers - No.8 / Take Me Higher
Senchai - Sundowner EP 💎
Scurrow - Danube Ft C:Critz / Flies