Picks Of The Week (07.09.24

1. Soldat - ANARCHIST 💎 [Eighty-Six]

Recommended if you like: Dimension, Synergy, streetflicker

Do you remember when we talked about streetflicker's debut release a few weeks back, and I teased/threatened you with a piece about another Aussie newcomer due to make his debut appearance? Well, turns out this day came way quicker than I anticipated, but that most certainly won't stop me - so let's talk about Soldat, this week's Hidden Gem Of The Week™️!

Many will know Gerald "Gerry" Lecaros, born in January 2001, as Sydney's biggest drum and bass enthusiast, becoming one of the now-defunct DnB Talk's most prominent contributors back in the day and continuing this legacy well into the luckily still-running 174, and as the world's staunchest defender of version 1 of Culture Shock & Dimension's Don't Sleep, but there had always been more to Lecaros' fervour. Inspired by the high energy controlled chaos created by the likes of Friction and A.M.C, Gerald started putting together his own mixes back in 2019, but due to his frequent social rebrands, and the constant cleanups that went along with it, a reference to his Power Up mix was the only remnant from that time period I managed to find. Luckily, the 2020 timeline is a little more complete. Not only did he continue doing his mixing thang with some three and four deck action, most notably his absolutely massive 2020 vision and the mix to rule them all (act i) mixes, he also began working together with Andrew, the aforementioned monsieur streetflicker, both on their regular Dancefloor Mondays streams and even in a live capacity here and there.

While the streams eventually stopped, the mixes kept coming, not only bringing us the second act of the mix to rule them all and the mix to end all mixes, but also a stunning audiovisual treatment for the senses with his multi-genre winning entry for Stellar Audio's mix competition. As epic as 2021 was in that regard, it was something else that would make this a defining year in his musical career: The beginning of his production journey! With Dancefloor behemoths Sub Focus and Culture Shock as big inspirations, the Soldat Experience®️ now also included smashing reworks of NERO's classic Innocence, heard around the world and even on BBC Radio 1, The Weeknd's hit of the summer Blinding Lights, shelled out at Printworks, MK's infectiously catchy 17, and Sub Focus' only ever remix competition offering Stomp, banged out at Parisian DnB event series Get In Step (the very best lineup curators ever, might I add).

2022 already saw some more promising DJing developments that we'll get to in a minute, but we gotta talk about Gerald's jump into full-time music making first. Unsatisfied with basically anything else that life had to offer him, the man took his IN SERVICE TO DRUM & BASS™ catchphrase to the next level by focussing all of his energy into getting his name out there, and man did it pay off! Obviously it's not all about followers and numbers and all that, but through a series of stupid yet endearing and simply fun reels showcasing all the mad blends he was cooking up while fully disregarding the rather transparently baity videos he stitched in front of it, the Soldat project jumped from around 600 to 10 thousand followers, putting multiple millions of eyes on his blend action. Plus, that same year he would also chuck out reworks of Childish Gambino's Do Ya Like, Eric Prydz's Call On Me and his very own Innocence remix. His love for Dancefloor may never die™️, but as the Jump Up craze took hold of the entire scene and he would settle into his instantly iconic 2000s Japanese nostalgia branding, he too would start a-dabblin', resulting in this year's first edition of the SOLDAT DUBPLATE CATALOGUE series being filled to the brim with one frog-off alien sound after the other, alongside the Dancefloor reimagination of Prada and some Ice Spice dub flava.

While all this production and -motion fun was raging on, man like Gerald was also slowly but very surely becoming one of Sydney's mainstays with his partner in crime Andrew, supporting anyone from fellow Aussies like Flowidus and V O E to Dancefloor legends and his very own inspirations like Sub Focus and Culture Shock and all sorts of Jump Up menaces like Phibes, SOTA and Macky Gee, as HIVEMIND's go-to names to heat up the dance. Not only that, the dynamic duo's participation at Sydney's YOUR SHOT 2023 competition for up-and-coming DJs is the stuff of legends: Both started on separate stages, steamrolled anyone else that dared stand in their way until they both won their respective stages and had to face off against each other in the final. Additional judges were called in, the stage was overflowing with people, and with the tiniest of margin, Andrew won out in the end - but what an insane night!

In even more recent times, Soldat has not only started running his very own headline shows, his tunes have also been supported by Subsonic across all the big festivals, shelled out by K Motionz on his most recent Mixmag set at The Lab, and banged out by Macky Gee at Tomorrowland - I would suggest buying Soldat stocks immediately.

Now, another milestone was knocked off the list: His very first label release! Delivered via Eighty-Six, part of the TMRW Music Group for "only good shit parents won't understand and grandma will hate" and frequent bookers of our boi Geraldino here, and inspired by Dimension's "fast pop music" anthem Offender, ANARCHIST transports us to the hypest rave imagineable. As the heavily distorted breaks and ravey samples lead us into the packed venue, the crowd is already in an incredibly good mood, but once Gerald unleashes the acidy synths onto the masses, the arena turns into an outright madhouse that even the MC cannot control anymore - until the truly stompy Techno kicks take over the entire sonic spectrum, flooding every corner of the space with the maximum amount of bass. Soon enough, the synths join back in, and after another brief hype session, we launch into the vibey syncopation action that allows me to talk about it on this format, full of white noise cannons, rave chords and crowd interaction, before Gerald abruptly ends the DnBroadcast.

Now (sol)dat's a banger and a half! Absolutely cannot wait to see where this man's journey is gonna take us in the future.

Other dancefloor from this week:

Seven Lions, ILLENIUM - Not Even Love (MUZZ Remix)
Lexurus, Itro, Eviya - Letting Go
Subsonic, Cameron Hayes - Ascend
Voicians - All I Need / We Still Don't Talk
10xx - Keep Dropping It
Andy C - Home In That Bass

2. Katali - Sky Is Burning [wavforme]

Recommended if you like: [BORDERS], Wiguez, Niallo

From someone heavily inspired by Japanese culture to one that's been living it for most of his life - let's talk about Japanese producer Katali!

Born in 1994, which according to unbiased sources (me) is actually the best year to be born in, Shun Oyamada might not have made a splash on your radar yet, but he most certainly has done quite well for himself in his career. Studying the violin at the Franz Liszt Weimar College of Music over here in Germany gave him the musical expertise to pursue making a living out of it all, producing tunes all over the genre spectrum for the e-sports team Crazy Raccoon and gaming community vaultroom, alongside other commercial work and submissions for music games. Of course, he would also eventually start putting out some of these tunes himself, as Katali, on all sorts of compilations curated by AlphaVersion, Diverse System, and wavforme, the Tokyo-based label pushing out all sorts of wonderful multi-genre compilations on whose Bass Attack LP this newest one has landed!

So what do we got here then? With a title like Sky Is Burning, one might think I'm talking about the latest doomsday-themed Neurofunk explosion again, but Katali quickly shows us that this apocalyptic scenario is actually rather beautiful. Gorgeous guitar strumming, soothing background choirs, and waves of breakbeats slowly but surely being breathed life into lead us to the main star of the infernal show: Hard-hitting staccato triplets of pure sound design ear candy battling it out against the all-consuming bass of the monster causing our untimely demise here. Sure, as things calm down a little, with the two sides' fighting moving further and further into the distance, we might manage to survive this initial onslaught, but that's all thwarted by the even harder, even stabbier, even more beautiful synth chords being fired off in the second half.

One of the most wonderfully futuristic, most pleasantly melodic and most tightly produced doomsday scenarios I've had the pleasure of taking part in!

Other techy things from this week:

iFeature - Unharmed (Buffasyze Remix)
Osprey - Nothing To Lose
Loudek - Shame / Blame
Human Theory - Find The Light