Picks Of The Week (13.01.24

1. Vici - Feel At Home [In The Lab Recordings]

Recommended if you like: Berghain, Tresor, Mefjus

I know, I know, we talked about Victor Chatain, better known as Vici, just a couple months ago already, and recent Best Newcomer Label silver medalist at the annual Drum & Bass Arena awards, In The Lab Recordings, has been a matter of more than one discussion on here, but what am I supposed to do when they put out insane stuff like this?

I mean, it comes to no surprise at all that Vici is putting out some Vicinsane stuff (I blew through my good puns on the first review already), that's why he's become such a regular on the likes of Neksus, Sinful Maze, Blackout and, of course, In The Lab after all, but with this newest one, Feel At Home, he cooked up something extra unorthodox in son laboratoire. Not only is the intro already dripping with an atmosphere that puts the bien in ambience, he also does his best to deliver on the promise of the title for his German listeners like me by dropping into actual, straight-up Industrial Techno. Don't worry, this hasn't turned into a Techno review section, Vici soon enough cranks up the tempo up to what we are used to on here, taking the thick layer of pure vibes he expertly built up so far and condensing it into the sharpest bass stabs you'll have heard since Manifest, and launching a full-on assault on us poor listeners with it. That's not even close to the end of the track's evolution though: those moody synths from the intro join back in on the fun, the Techno vibes return in full-speed 4x4 fashion, and even Halftime makes an appearance at the very end!

Versifiedly heavy, vibrantly vibey, verifiably Vici.

2. Seekraze - Lights Out 💎 [Soundpolis Records]

Recommended if you like: Karraki, Oryx, Chiyu

Seeking more krazy techy tunes? I've got the perfect artist for you!

In the ever-deepening sea of krazily talented artists emerging from Czechia, the home of the massive genre institutions that are Let It Roll and Darkshire, there is one name that I simply don't see mentioned often enough and has thus earned himself the Hidden Gem Of The Week™️ badge for this week: Seekraze! Straight outta Tábor, roughly an hour away from Neurofunk metropolis Prague, Lukáš Jelič has been enjoying the ride through the electronic music scene since all the way back in 2011, but only roughly a decade later, in 2021, did he finally participate in the game of the drums and the basses. Inspired by the wave of technical yet cinematic heaviness taking over the scene, with the likes of Buunshin leading the charge, Lukáš would soon become a part of said movement, starting with an unofficial remix of said Dutchie's Patreon challenge tune, ATM. What really put him on the map, however, was his first proper release, his collaborative debut EP Cholia, with fellow underrated artist Tao Maffa. Not only did its title tune get played on VISION Radio, Bicycle also stayed in none other than Black Sun Empire's rotation for quite a while!

After a rather large remix package of this tsunami of a debut, with Notequal, Meph, SLWDWN and Psynchro putting their own sick spins on the already insane originals, and his debut on Hoofbeats Music in 2023, with even more massive support from the likes of State Of Mind, Andy C and Gancher & Ruin, it's now time for him to once again return to where it all began: Soundpolis Records! You might know them as the group behind the Welcome To The Jungle event series, responsible for flying in international headliners like Neonlight, InsideInfo, A.M.C, Wilkinson and DC Breaks and putting all sorts of sick Czech talent, including Seekraze, on the stage in Tábor since 2010, but for the aforementioned Cholia EP, Soundpolis grew into a proper label for Tábor's most promising talents in 2021. So far, this mostly means Seekraze and Tao Maffa, but hey, that's already quite the sick, albeit maybe a little small, roster to have!

In case you aren't convinced yet, let's take a look at Mr. Jelič' newest creation, Lights Out! You can already tell from the gloomy intro, with the triplet synths stumbling closer and closer, that some exceptional excrement is about go down, but once the synths slowly give way to a swiftly approaching earthquake of a roar, you realise that your expectations regarding the massiveness of this tune were still set way too low. Mammothian, otherworldly creatures' thunderous war cries are contrasted with a deeply satisfying bass response, while the synths keep flashing on and off in the distance, driving every bystander of this phenomenon to the point of madness. That's what my brain is creating out of this sonic warfare at least.

Cinematically super-charged, magnificently monstrous tune!

3. Primate, Majistrate, Ekstatic - Back In Time [CruCast]

Recommended if you like: Sota, Captain Bass, Mozey

You know what? Let's go Back In Time to how we did these things in 2021 and talk about a third release!

It's really no secret that I absolutely love the more fun parts of the Jump Up spectrum, especially the recent wave of more melodic, switchy, 4x4-y rave anthems. One of the most prominent figures of this movement, and probably my favourite of the bunch, Primate, has been the subject of discussion on here just a couple months ago, when he collabored with Pirapus, my beloved, and he is not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. Case in point, this newest release of his! As his latest entry in a series of world class collaborations, this one breaks a bit from the format of the newer name teamups and instead recruits a certified legend of the scene, Majistrate! For anyone who doesn't know of him, let's quickly jump into our DeLorean for a brief history lesson. Majistrory. Anyway.

Ian Jordan has been around on the scene for so long that keeping his story brief is actually quite the challenge! With a ridiculous 30+ years (!!) of experience at this point, having started DJing in 1990 and putting together his first productions in 1994, he's basically been around longer than the genre we're here to talk about! And longer than I have been alive, for that matter. His career goes back so far that he got his start on imprints like DJ Trace's Interlective, Splash Recordings and Eastside Records, all of which I admittedly had to google. He's had so many different eras that could be dissected at length here, like when he worked together with Agent K a bunch as 2 For The Show or his long-time collaborative efforts with DJ Nicol, but the thing people are probably most familiar with are his consistently captivating contributions to the sounds of Logan D' Low Down Deep, stretching back as far as 2006, and his newest venture, the Jump Up supergroup Problem Central with Eksman, Evil B and Logan D.

Ian wasn't just releasing iconic bangers left and right himself though, he has also always been tirelessly pushing underground talents with his various different labels. Together with the aforementioned DJ Nicol, he established Nam Musik in 2007, which gave a platform to early releases by now huge names Tantrum Desire, Serum and Serial Killaz, for instance. Next, he created his very own label Sweet Tooth, as a subsidiary of Low Down Deep (if Discogs isn't lying to me), in 2014, both as a place for his own productions and for the likes of Turno, Upgrade, Tsuki, Bou and the late and great Dominator. Lastly, he and Nu Elementz also founded Bites, a sister label to Sweet Tooth, with alumni like K Motionz, Master Error and Tesen. In short, Ian is a certified legend of the scene, in every sense of the word.

Joining this intergenerational match-up is none other than Hannah Edwards, also known as Ekstatic! Not only is she the frontwoman of Progressive Metalcore band Katalyse, you might also recognise her ethereal vocals from her work with clÜ, DJ Gaw and Oli Lewis. That's not all though, since 2020 she's also gotten deeper and deeper into the mixing game and has even started putting out her very own productions recently!

Alright, so what did this triumpersonat of talent cook up for us for this latest Crucast release? While Ekstatic's marvellously catchy vocals, the drip-fed bleeps and bloops, the fast-paced breaky drums and the almost menacing cloud of bass underneath all wonderfully work together to drum up an insane amount of hype, you simply won't be ready for what's coming. We are launched into orbit with the cheesiest of cheeky rave melodies, with Hannah's delightful performance continuing on in the background, all plopped on top of a pounding 4x4 beat, but before we know it, a flurry of hardstyle kicks not so gently yanks us back down into the naughtiest of nasty Jump Up grot. Absolute insanity that gets me jumping in my seat every single time. As if that wasn't sick enough, however, the trio infernale got one more tremendous trick up their sleeve in the second half: a delayed drop, followed by even more 4x4! Ugh, I am honestly in love with every single part of this.

I actually don't wanna go back in time, I'm too obsessed with this tune to live in a world in which it doesn't exist yet. So so good.