Picks Of The Week (16.11.24

1. Rue - Parallel Inspection LP [Yamatai Records]

Recommended if you like: Yatuza, Kalane, Genic

What is this? Another entry under the ruebric Yamatai is amazing, where I rueminate about all the ruede duede ruebys of the underground scene the now Bristol-based imprint, which was crowned Beatport Label Of The Month this September and is set to take off on a rather special international tour next year, has been polishing up for us since its inception a mere three years ago? You're goddamn right.

As you can tell from the endless punnery I'm feeling not a single shred of rue about or from simply reading the title of this section, this week's deep dive concerns Rue. Not the Middle English, Merriam Webster's Word Of The Day winning word (also in September, by the way), no no, I'm of course referring to British newcomer Rue and his truely fantastic new mini album! But first, let's jump back in time and see how we got here.

1.1. Can you smell what the Rupert is Cooklin? (2000 - 2016)

Growing up in the rather rueral Chalfont Saint Peter near London, Rupert Cooklin was arguably more concerned with AMAZING Modern Warfare 3 Sniper Montages, epic Minecraft PvP fights and building pyramids out of Dr Pepper cans with his brother James than making it big in DnB, at least as far as I can tell from decyphering the ruenes of his early social media postings. However, in the midst of cycling through CS:GO clans as if they were underwear (to be fair - some were simply "shit", as he put it), he also started sharing his very first musical creations as State as early as 2013! Not a whole lot could be uncovered from these archaeological sites, except for his "synth-step" banger Metronomy and his piano chord experimentation Uprising. While young Rupert seems to have hit the hiatus button on his early production journey, he did return to share his piano work for his Extended Project Qualification - a big project making up a lot of your final grade in your A-Levels - so he was clearly still very fond of this whole music thingy.

1.2. Crossing The Ruebicon (2016 - 2022)

In fact, after school, he started his music-related studies in the DnB stronghold that is port city Bristol! Perhaps inspired by his brother's regular renaming shenanigans, from Pure to Sushido to the multi-disciplinary art overlord Gaijin we have come to know and love nowadays, Rupert first temporarily rebranded himself to Tempural in 2019, before switching to KTRL just a year later. Cutting his teeth by playing out at Bristol's own Take 5 Cafe for now defunct independent music brand Wax Forms, and by participating in the Southampton-based charity livestream series Seshampton, he was slowly but surely making a name for himself, and as 2022 rolled around, that (final) name would finally be revealed to the world: Rue!

1.3. Through The Ruef (2022 - 2024)

After kicking things off with his very first 100% Rue Mix packed with tunes created during his time in uni, he would unleash one freebie after the other, from his bootleg of Brent Faiyaz' Jackie Brown to Midnight Blue and Purpose. While most of these were simply put out via his own SoundCloud, he also supplied the label arm of the aforementioned Wax Forms with one of his early gems, Games. They weren't the only imprint keen to work with him though, none other than mister James "Illusive" Williams, a long-time friend of Rupert, also thought the Ruperfections would fit in very nicely over at his label Yamatai! Since the imprint's go-to stunning artwork wizard, Rupert's brother, the other James, was already an integral part of the machinery over there anyway, it only made sense really, and once 2024 rolled around, Rue joined the family fully.

Not only did he drop his highly anticipated Attraction Complex EP, with which he landed a spot on the legendary VISION Radio, he was also part of their third entry into the Genesis saga, worked as sound tech for the charity project PhilanthroPunks and participated in Skydiving for Scannappeal. Now, Rue once again spins his Future Bass, Dubstep and Neo-Soul inspirations into gold, both on his own and together with several of his talented mates, for his largest project as of yet, his mini album Parallel Introspection. So let's check it out!

1.4. Parallel Inspection

After a gentle, extended introduction to our love interest on the Prologue We First Met, we begin Falling for them, hard. Our bassy heart rumbling underneath, and our constantly, unpredictably evolving butterfly percussion floating all over the place, we practice our big confession in all sorts of different tones and intensities, until the uncontrollable yet beautiful synths take control. It's almost like an outright Possession has taken hold over our mind, banging on our door with hefty kicks, weaseling its intricately snappy snares and shaky hi-hats into every little part of our brain, before the obsessively bassy energy sweeps all across, wreaking havoc wherever it goes.

Good thing that Rue can always count on his friends to help him out when he's up Against The Wall like this. With Austrian talent and fellow Yamatai family member Leon Acris Bernhard by his side, he takes us on a weighty train journey full of sharp-edged, (a)crispy snare action, rumbly bass stabs and all sorts of hectic sonic attacks on the duo. While this Austrian had to jump off at the nearest exit, Rue is joined by fellow Wax Forms alumni Pseuro for the next bit of our ride, Do You Even Know, which accelerates from the rave siren filled steppes until we feel the full impact of these rolling stocks, before finally unleashing its deeply unsettling machinery sounds. To get this minimal train safely to its destination before the sun sets, Rue employs the help of yet another Empathy Audio resident, Austrian talent Gabriel Dub Ten Kirchebner, on project SOL. Dub Pistens pumping, pressure valves howling, not quite well-oiled gears turning and turning, pebbles flying off into the distance - and we have arrived.

After this tumultous ride, Rue meets up with brand new British talent Murray M2K McLarnon to slow us down a bit, with the dubby, steppy vibes of To Be Better. For maximum trippiness, check out Gaijin's audiovisual journey for the tune! Now that we're getting close to the finish line, it's time for some solo Reflection. Back at home, looking at the rainy outside under our comfy blanket, our inside thoughts start to come to light, wandering from softly rolling, gently synthy sonics to dubby stabs of (cook)lingering self-doubt piercing through our lovely protection layer of bass. Luckily, we have Left these thoughts In Nirvana, on our super vibey extended outro finale of the same name.

1.5. Conclusion

A relatively short yet all the more impactful story of congruent self reflection, emotionally exploring our truest selves with tightly produced (ru)percussion and on-point deep and dark viberey. This rueles.

Other deep things from this week:

Mefjus - Emulation X EP
Forbidden Society - Tech Tube / Save Me
venbee - Dark Place
C-DU - Cheese Sandwich / Copy Me 💎
Lynx - Visco
Unglued - Underground Supply

2. Dapreme - Speechless [In The Lab Recordings]

Recommended if you like: Notequal, Aduken, Manta

Of course, when I decide to dedicate my first pick to the homies at Yamatai, the homies at the almost-award-winning In The Lab Recordings just a few cities over also drop an absolutely crazy tune. Well, double homie feature week it is. For this one, we'll take a look at one of the rising stars on the DnB horizon, Patrick Prem, better known as Dapreme!

2.1. Patrick's World Premiere (2000 - 2021)

Born around the millenium and raised in the Innsbruckian municipality of Wildermiming, Patrick has never been very far from the bustling music scenes of the district's capital namesake he would later move to anyway. Not all too long after winning the Iron Bowl Championship with his American Football team, i.e. towards the tail end of 2019, he began playing around with producing super serious Hip-Hop beats, and once Covid hit, he dove into it head-first. Lucky for us, he soon stumbled upon this thing called drum and bass, and, inspired by the likes of Waeys, Annix and DLR, sought to take a crack at it as well. While his mate Benni allowed him to sharpen his skills on the decks at various house parties, he would continue to slave away at the production side of things, until he was finally ready to unleash his first tune as Dapreme, Turn off the Lights, into the world in 2021.

2.2. Malwhere It All Took Off (2021 - 2023)

Amidst bootlegs and Dapremixes for an unknown-to-me Euphoria and Josspoop (I will never get over the name), and even some Hip-Hop with AndrewX, 2022 also saw him put out more and more originals like Adaptation, which not only put him on my radar, but also caught the eye of Phase Records' Gifta, who promptly urged him to send through some tunes. As Patrick was slowly but surely becoming more and more involved with the local music scene, by playing various Afterglow raves at Club Cubique, providing Austrian DnBrand The Sixth Circle with a sick guest mix and even, from the ashes of the Same Roots event brand, joining and co-creating the Malware Audio collective, he was also pushing his music to alpine heights, from the excellent reworks of JP tuat wild's Leberkas Intravenös and Ludwig Göransson's Oppenheimer soundtrack, to his collaborative work with Default Noise, Camo & Krooked lure Come Around, and a rather big contribution to Venjent's Another Monday remix competition.

2.3. Honeymoon Phase (2023 - 2024)

However, perhaps the biggest thing happening that year was, after meeting up and getting along su(da)premely well with them on a visit to London, Patrick's official inauguration as resident of the Phase Records family. After soft launching his involvement with the freebie Hypnosis and his bootleg for T.I. and Rihanna's Live Your Life, he not only became a regular on the label with two contributions to their massive Perspective II compilation, which earned him his first play on VISION Radio, his Gimmie That EP, and Lost Lover on Charis' EP, earning them both their first UKF upload, he also played his first festival set at Hospitality on The Beach 2024 (!), and became Phase's A&R Manager! That's not all there was to this year though, no no, earlier this year he also participated in Bishu's legendary BishBattle sample flip with some heavy-duty Dubstep, deb-you-ted on the one and only Stellar Audio, and, well, now he's made it all the way over to the In The Lab chaps!

2.4. Speechless

I was tempted to just leave this review of Speechless blank, but not only have I already done that joke in the promo blurb, it would also just not be fair to the insanity unfolding on these four and a half minutes. With lovely pianos and a classic, catchy vocal sample setting the mood, one might not expect the impending madness, but the dramatic synths do raise suspicion. Right as the vocal hits its powerful peak, Patrick unleashes a lethal combo of thorny yet rolling drums, outright all-consuming distorted basses and rhythmically hypnotising interjections, immediatelly winning me over. That's not all though, we're also treated to some pounding 4x4 action leading us to an supercharged second drop that, even on the 20th listen, still blows me away.

If I hadn't just spent hours writing the above paragraphs, I would say it left me speechless. Patrickdiculously good.

Other techy things from this week:

YOSHUU - Outset EP
Drumsik - When It's Right
BULC - Fading Away... 💎
Internal_ERROR - Unbroken 💎
Jade Sierra - let me down 💎