Picks Of The Week (21.09.24

1. Annix, Mefjus - Shai Hulud [Neksus Sound]

Recommended if you like: skantia, Fade Black, Burr Oak

Inspiration can come from so many different places. Other genres, from the classic sounds of Soul, Funk or Jazz, to more modern developments like Hip-Hop, Rock or even other electronic music, life experiences, from infatuation to heartbreak, aesthetics, from the deepest wells of darkness to the brightest rays of sunshine, basically any aspect of life you can think of. Even other artforms! Especially the moving pictures seem to excite artists in our scene - the likes of High Contrast, Delta Heavy and Magnetude cite soundtracks as one of their main sources of inspiration, some of our biggest names are actively working in the industry, a big chunk of samples are taken from the artists' favourite movies, and tons of track titles are simply direct references. Now, none other than the weirdo-jump-up pioneers Annix and best-mixdown-ever-haver Mefjus take aim at arguably the sci-fi phenomenon of our times, Denis Villeneuve's Dune, and the results simply could not be more insane. Let's talk about Shai Hulud.

But first: You might remember our deep dive into all things Annix for their Sleepless debut a while ago, and you might even remember us checking out some Mefjus tunage over the years -always without the accompanying history lesson though. In my defense, I was waiting for an album for that, but since it seems like that will never come: let's atone for our Sinths, take a Step Back, Pivot to a Blitz Expedition from the Foundation Footpath through the Wormhole to the Distant(ia) Nebula of Suicide Basslines, and finally unravel the Mythos of Mefjus!

Backstory - Mefjus

Born, raised and to this day based in the beautiful Austrian city of Linz, Martin "Mefjus" Schober is probably one of the few big artists not attracted to musical metropolises like Vienna, London or Amsterdam. Initially drawn into music in a more classical way by the town's band inspiring him to pursue trumpet lessons for a while, teenage Martin soon ditched it all in favour of way kewler things like skateboarding and Hiphop. At 16, he started building instrumentals for his brother's rap crew with his little Akai sampler, but once he experienced Noisia's Block Control down at his first 42nd Streetsession in little ol' Wels, it was the drums and the basses that really spoke to him. Especially the bass-heavy, funky rhythms that Neurofunk had to offer excited him, and as 2009 rolled around, he started throwing his own furious brand of Neuro into the ring. On imprints like Tilt, Fish, Mindtech, T3K and Ammunition, Martin slowly but surely built up the Mefjus brand, but, at least according to him, it was the various collaborative efforts with Fourward that properly pushed him into the spotlight of the scene.

In just three to four short years, he managed to get the entire underground's ears to perk up, leading to a whole slew of releases on Phace & Misanthrope's Neodigital, Eatbrain, Trust In Music, Close 2 Death, Citrus, Lifted's Breed 12 Inches, Shogun and Critical, remixes for Friction, Chase & Status, Neosignal and Black Sun Empire, and collaborations with Neonlight, Kaiza, Enei, Kung and Kasra, eventually earning him the coveted "Best Newcomer Producer" - just in that short period from 2012 to early 2013! Things were going so well, in fact, that Martin made the jump over to full-time musician in April of 2013, and holy moly did things pop off even more after that. One insane collaboration after the other, most notably Mythos with InsideInfo on Virus, the Hello World EP with Emperor on Critical and Must Eat with Zombie Cats on Eatbrain, leading to something somehow even bigger: his debut album, Emulation!

Released via Critical, and featuring the likes of Phace, Misanthrop, Dope D.O.D. and long-time friend Maksim MC, it's safe to say its techy madness blew the scene's collective minds, and rightfully won Best Album at D&B Arena's award show that year, but trust me, you are not prepared for the list of instantly iconic classics that followed in the aftermath. Not only did we get a truly outstanding run of tunes with InsideInfo, with Footpath, Leibniz and Pulsation (among others!), we also got Blitz and the coveted VIP of Suicide Bassline as part of the Emulation Remixes EP, winning him the Best Track trophy as well, and his remix of Sunday Crunk, one of the tunes spearheading the whole Halftime craze at the time. Unlike said trend, however, things never really slowed down for Martin, chucking out more collaborative crackers with Phace, Icicle, and, for the very first time after knowing each other since 2010-ish, fellow Schnitzelbois Camo & Krooked in 2017. Don't worry we'll get into that linkup more, but first we had Mefjus curating the legendary Fabriclive 95 mix with only his own productions, and, of course, the arrival of his second album, Manifest!

This time assembled together on none other than Noisia's Vision Recordings, this sophomore effort ended up being a true landmark release for the genre, sporting what many called and still do call the absolute best mixdown ever, while delivering a cinematic, multi-genre experience unlike any other. With fresh Best Producer and Best Album awards now under his belt, the Schnitzel and Leibniz biscuits lover not only got the likes of Loadstar, FuntCase, Culprate, Fourward, Annix and, like, so many more involved in the massive remix package for the album, he also started jumping into the studio with Skeptical, Phace, IMANU, Break, Noisia and even Bou, and, as you all already know, continued his world-class work with Camo & Krooked, forming the world's freshest DnBoyband ever in the process. Mandala, Kallisto and Sidewinder were already insanely creative, but the machinery just kept on going with No Tomorrow, U, their Last Jungle remix and the one and only Sientelo, adding Best Track and Artwork to their ever-growing shrine of awards.

Previously still depending on big labels like Hospital or UKF, the trio soon realised they yearned for an even higher level of creative control and a release schedule that would allow for a quicker turnover - which is why they unveiled their very own label, MODUS, in 2022! One super sick single after another, a "Best Remix" winning bootleg-turned-official rework of The Prodigy's Breathe, a ton of supremely talented up-and-comers now part of the extended MODUS family and an official working relationship with Let It Roll for last year's opening show - I think it's safe to say things are going quite well for them over there.

Of course, Martin has other creative outlets to focus on outside the sky-high expectation riddled world of Mefjus. For instance, we've got his old Electro/Breaks alias Mephisto that he established back in 2010. Around a decade later, the complete lack of shows thanks to that pandemic thing inspired Camo, Krooked and him to create SINTH in 2020, as an umbrella for anything and everything else music related, from ghost productions to mixing and mastering. Most recently, Martin went back to his Hiphop roots with Maksim, with whom he put out an entire album as Ezekiel's Gift in 2023! And most randomly and perhaps most amazingly, he started pillowgame, an all-too-sadly now-defunct Instagram account on which he was rating hotel pillows on a scale from 0-20.

Okay, enough of all this, let's talk about the release!

Release

After Annix already delivered two mind-melting remixes for Martin back in 2019, it's now finally time for the three to work on something even more brain-breaking together: Shai Hulud! This one isn't just named after the colossal sandworms that plague Arrakis, this actually earns the title as its sheer weight and destructive capabilities match those of the physical embodiments of the Fremen's One God. While we listeners are still distracted by the wonderfully oriental atmosphere instantly igniting our imagination, the trio fires off the thumpers luring in the destructive demons, announcing themselves with a truly sinister, thundering outcry, before unleashing a larger-than-life earthquake, flattening our entire surroundings. Even after surviving the initial assault, the still a-thumpin' thumpers lead them right back to us for even more lunacy. Still, we are not done yet. With even more hype than previously thought possible, we are drop-kicked down the stairs of sanity, where the last remnants of civilization are torn to shreds. That little fried vocal right before this last drop man, ugh!

Conclusion

Shaighly Huludicrous. Easily as earth-shattering and awe-inspiring as the sandworms it's named after, if not more.

Other unique madness from this week:

Redpill - Genesis Remixed EP
Askel & Elere - Engram
Matzet - Haunted
iFeature - Unharmed (Barocka Remix)

2. Anvo - Black Sun EP 💎 [Empathy Audio]

Recommended if you like: Dub Ten, Creatures, Dapreme

While we're on the topic of Austrian producers, let's check in with one that's only started putting out tunes this very year: Anvo! Eagle-brained readers might remember that we featured this young'un's lush debut EP on IN:DEEP earlier this year, but not only is this new collection of tunes rather phat and thus a noteworthy, stark contrast to this early lovely liquid, thanks to an update of his bio I've also actually got some more backstory to share about this week's returning Hidden Gem Of The Week™️!

Now 19-year-old Andrej Vogel used the extra time the universe so graciously gifted most of us during the pandemic to get into the drums and basses, to the point that he even fired up Ableton to produce his very own tunes just a year later! With influences ranging from psychedelic music like High Tech and Psytechno to the R'n'B, Hiphop and Rock he's harboring a deep-seated love for, it's no wonder Andrej is already bringing a rather fresh sound to the table at this young an age. When he's not trying to wrestle all these different sounds into DnBangers, he's working together with Badner Bua Lian under the lian & anvo moniker, with a slick bootleg of Billie Eilish's No Time To Die being their first and so far only output.

Now, the lovely lads at Empathy Audio snatched him up for another three tunes, which when put together form his Black Sun ~~EmPire~~ EP! Unlike the aforementioned first couple splashes on the scene, this one takes us several hundred meters and a couple octaves deeper down into the darkness, with opener Op1 doing a fantastic job introducing the harsher setting with incredibly effective, gloomy atmospheric work - made even creepier by the distant vocals and the nearby kid's giggly playful teasing - and a wonderfully heavy bassacre firing on all cylinders. In The Tunnel (Find Him) takes us even further down the ladder to a truly cavernous environment, where every foot step reverberates throughout miles and miles of tunneling and the bottomless bass wobbles its way through the deepest parts of our minds. Similarly wobbly, closer The Twist, which earned Anvo his first play on VISION Radio, takes the sluggish bassline and injects it with some high octane wobble power™️, ending the experience on a rather Bristolian note.

As wobbly as it is almost unsettlingly deep and dark - banger of an EP!

Other deep and dark stuff from this week:

Telm & Wilson - Bad Boy / Transmission
Ethera - Serpenance 💎
Ill Truth - The Real
R3IDY - Trust presents C0D35: Sessions EP
Various Artists - SUB:MERGE PART 1
Serpnt - All We Do EP