Picks Of The Week (29.07.23

1. JJL - Thought It Was U [NCS Arcade]

Recommended if you like: Protostar, Sophon, More Plastic

Most of the new names that pop up on my radar end up being someone who has been slaving away at it for years on end, either behind the veil of another alias or in secret while they work to get their quality up to par. When I saw JJL popping up in this week's releases with a proper banging track again, I was relatively sure it would end up being a similar story. Boy, was I wrong.

The first clue presented itself when I visited his Insta profile to leave him a follow. "15 yr old artist", reads his bio. Wait, what? Surely that's outdated info or something right? I clearly remember his Jay Eskar remix from a year ago and surely he didn't manage to produce that at 14? Well, turns out he did. Jasper JJL Leeves has been around on the internet since around 2018 (at 10 years old, mind you), with his first, now still available tunes dating back to 2021. If, unlike me, you had your ears properly to the ground at this time, you might have seen him pop up in sample flip streams from Bishu and other demo streams. Or, if that was more your thing, you might have seen his name appear in all sorts of remix competitions, from Moonboy and Don Diablo to Disciple's Biggest Remix Competition Of All Time 2, the latter of which he even submitted two entries to, of which one actually won and was properly released! And all that just because him and his collaborative partner Affe tested positive for Covid and had time to kill in quarantine. I wish my quarantines had been that productive.

And you know what's even crazier? In his short but very sweet journey so far, Jasper could never be narrowed down to just one genre. Dubstep, Future House, Retro Future, which I'm like 95% sure is a made-up name, and with his aforementioned remix for Jay Eskar on NoCopyrightSounds last year even DnB, he seems to have an incredibly good handle on all of them. It's truly no wonder then that JJL is becoming a proper household name for the NoCopyrightSound family of labels. After working together with the likes of Toxic Wraith, MALARKEY, ASUNDER and SIIK for his previous projects, it's now time for his first solo, non-remix release: Thought It Was U, on NCS' absolutely amazing Arcade imprint.

Spoiler warning: he has completely smashed it. After introducing us to his world with a delightful vocal sample echoing throughout the auditory space otherwise solely occupied by a larger-than-life synth atmosphere, Jasper starts building up the hype very effectively, with drums becoming breakier and breakier the closer they get and an ever-increasing pitch, before finally unleashing the built-up energy into the thunderstorm of madness that is the drop. Unlike the one raging outside my window right now, this particular thunderstorm continuously slaps you right across the face with a powerful combination of steppy drums and truly bass-face-inducing bass stabs that still retain a sense of melodicality, only interrupted by the (relatively) soothing smoothly-flowing drums around which the bass seems to be orbiting. Throughout the track's duration, we go through a couple of variations of relentless rhythms, every one of them more hard-hitting than the one that came before.

While I am slightly annoyed that I can't seem to find a good pun for his artist name, the sheer quality of this new tune cancels out any ill feelings I might have due to that, and then some. Can't wait to see what else he is gonna come up with in the future!

Other heavy techy stuff from this week:

Malixe - Distance
NOŪS - RIGHT PLACE 💎

2. Artsea - Supercell EP [onesevenfour]

Recommended if you like: Motiv, Hiraeth, Auris

In the seriously spacious sea of almost annoyingly awesome artists, there is one that has been deserving a special spotlight for quite some time now: Artsea!

Australian DJ-producer-label-founder Aden Russell, born in Brisbane, nowadays based in Melbourne, might have only relatively recently really started popping off, with various uploads to platforms like UKF and Drum & Bass Arena, but this particular sea actually goes way deeper than that. In fact, around 2013 is when the world of music was first enriched by Aden's musical creations. First as "birthed" if I'm reading this artsy font correctly, but very soon after, the similarly artsy alias Artsea was born. Back in those days, Aden not only curated his Jams mixtape series, he also ran a YouTube channel bursting with advice for all things songwriting, creativity and for just generally finding motivation to keep going in this sometimes all too ruthless hobby, with his producer journal format joining in later on. As if that wasn't already enough involvement in the scene, he also wrote all sorts of content for the DJ TechTools platform back in the day!

Back to the music though. Around 2017 Aden started taking this whole thing with the production and the releases a little more seriously, trying his hands at genres like Electronic, Beats, Future Chill, Neurotic Trap, Future Lofi and others I swear I'm not making up. Even though this was already quite the diverse lineup of sounds, he wanted to expand his palette a bit more and wanted to start over fresh to break free from any expectations for how things should sound, which he accomplished by pivoting to his House side project dj colors in 2018. Soon after, however, he realised that he didn't want to jump back and forth between aliases every time he tries out new genres, so Artsea became the main umbrella for everything again.

While his inspirations and creative ambitions were manifold, he always had a deeply rooted love for all things DnB. In 2017, he established the onesevenfour brand, which evolved from a radio show with guest mixes by the likes of Survey, Document One and Whiney, to a Melbourne-based event series with legends like London Elektricity, Pola & Bryson, BCee or LSB headlining, and eventually into a whole label in 2020, championing some of my absolute favourite artists like Pirapus, Moekel and Ruebik among countless others. Back to Aden though! Around 2019, he not only started his long-running job as the host of the EDMProd.com podcast, his output also became more and more influenced by the DnB he was surrounded by at onesevenfour, both in his Curations mix series and his own productions. From the humble beginnings of a whole lot of self releases, Artsea went on to be featured on basically all the great Liquid labels out there, with Skankandbass, Goldfat, Differential, Spearhead's Future Retro and Bay 6 still just being the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, a whole lot of his output also found a home on onesevenfour, just like his newest most wonderful offering, the Supercell EP! Right away, the title track Supercell lulls you into this absolutely gorgeous dream-like world, in which we're gliding through all sorts of lovely melodies and arrangements, guided by Artsea's very own dreamy vocals and supported by the warm, inviting bass bouncing underneath it all. The vibe machinery continues on with Gel Balls, in which distant bells seamlessly work together with gentle piano chords and a bass that is just heartwarming all-around. We floatin' here.

Just like its literary namesake, our third stop War & Peace is expansive in all the right ways. Not only do the strings start to grow in clarity over time, the bassline follows suite right after, going from subtle background vibes to a more active involvement in the arrangement, before we effortlessly transition over to some touching piano chords to complete the track's evolution. All topped off with another terrific vocal sample! Lastly, we're getting groovy with heaven's most popular exported ethereal beings, on Angel Groove. Slightly more aggressive, fast-paced, sharp drums push our body to all sorts of movements whether we want to or not, while the rest of the instrumental, especially those stitched-together vocal samples, give it that soulful, melodic edge to keep our heads in the clouds all throughout.

Dreamy arrangements, vibey vocals and bubbly basslines to keep you warm in those somehow quite cold summer days. Sublime.

Other liquidy vibes from this week:

GLXY - Fear, Ego EP
Rizzle - Tangents EP