Picks Of The Week (19.07.25

1. Jacques Maya - It Was Always You EP [Fokuz]

Recommended if you like: Dawn Wall, Mohican Sun, KALOA

Having survived the onslaught of rain, mud, and locust plagues at Let It Roll this weekend, I only just barely have enough brain cells left for a short one this time around, so my selections might be a bit more random. This one from British talent Jacques Maya, for example, is actually from last week, but since I was out festival-ing and thus didn't have a chance to talk about it back then as well, I knew I had to take a look this week at least!

Let's start at the beginning though. This particular British Architect of Sound™️ and, like, houses and stuff, got his start into designing and building structurally sound sonics in 2017, when he was trying everything from Future Bass to even DnB under his real-life-alias Joshua Richardson. Proof for said phase of experimentation came in the form of bootlegs of Firebeatz, Vérité, and Lauren Zettler, and even a handful originals, but after 2018, he seems to have mostly kept his productions to himself, aside from the odd open deck gig at the University of Liverpool, as simply "Josh". Then, in 2022, the Son of Richard decided to enter MJ Cole's remix competition for his chune You Got Me, which actually ended with him winning the bronze medal! For this occasion, Josh rebranded his artistic endeavours (brandeavours) to an entirely new name: HIDDEN VISIONS!

A year later, however, the name already got replaced by an exciting new venture: Jacques Maya! With 134bpm House goodness like All To You and his Saïna remix, and tasteful DnB reworks for Kutiman, Skepta, Silva Bumpa and more, Joshua made a bit of a name for himself, but what really put him on the map - at least for me - was his Coldharbour EP on Fokuz last year. Just from reading the name again, I get flashbacks to the incredible vocal-chopped melody in my head, in between the inevitable Severance scenes, but the rest of it was absolutely stellar as well - just like this new one!

Josh kicks the three-tracker off with Ice Cold in collaboration Harry Jinbu Jenkins, who you might also remember as HD before his rebrand in 2023. Wonderfully lush vocals reverberating through the titular freezing air, piano chords gently dropping from above like snowflakes, and warm beds of bass to tuck yourself into - this one is truly lovely. Next up, title track It Was Always You warms our feet with a multi-layered arrangement of soulful vocals tugging at your heart strings, deeply processed vocalisations all over the musical spectrum, and tropical string plucks that make you want to wish for a coconut filled with Tequila Sunrise in your hand. I love this one. Lastly, we fly into the night with Higher and its breaky rhythms, gorgeous, triplethereal synth melodies, and chopped-to-bits vocals - what a note to end on.

A three-part trip through so much gorgeous auditory imagery you'll begin to feel like you're on a Jacues Mayahuasca trip.

Other lovely liquid from this week:

Etherwood, Grace Barton - Where The River Meets The Sea
Aaron Payne - Beneath The Surface EP
imo-Lu - Microcosm EP
Anile, Mindstate - Space Notes EP
Vangeliez, D:Sign, MC RVS - Never Look Back

2. CYLX - HAZMATH / CORRUPT 💎 [CNJA]

Recommended if you like: skantia, Simula, Redpill

This one's not even from last week, but from almost a month ago! However, it's similarly awe-inspiring in the sheer quality that's coming from this, to me at least, completely unknown figure - just on the opposite ends of the subgenre spectrum. So let's talk about our Hidden Gem Of The Week™️, CYLX! Big thanks to Colin from VALE for this recommendation.

The man behind the acryptonym is Serbian multi-talent Stefan Cenic, whose weapon-(bel)grade tunes of course reach further back than just this project. The earliest traces I could find in this short a time go back to 2021, when Stefan started experimenting with everything from Phonk, House, Bass House, Techno and Dubstep to even dreamy, dark Liquid DnB under the CENOJA name, but not much later, in 2022, he also spread his wings into Ambient territory under his real name, on Harmonic Records, and even started his own almost vowel-less imprint, CNJA. Things only truly got rolling for us DnB lovers, however, when the 3D artist rebranded into the name we're going to cover today, CYLX, in 2024! Kicked off with shades of Shades-like 140 on the absolutely slamming debut album ABYSS, he soon after made the jump over to faster tempos in 2025, steering everything into more of a Simulandscape. Which brings us to the double single we got in front of us today!

The A-Side, HAZMATH, stylishly welcomes us into the world of CYLX with snares and low grumblings echoing far into the seemingly endless abyss, before swiftly approaching with the main event of this particular spelunking expedition. Back and forth, we're snipping between stuttery trills descending into the cavernous space in a truly mind-melting manner and guttural growls rattling our brains to the point of insanity - with plenty of ear candy to boot. CORRUPT, on the other hand, announces its intentions straight away, alongside the obligatory, heavily processed Reggae vocal sample. Massively distorted, bouncing pads relentlessly hammer in on your ears, pulverising every remaining ounce of hope in humanity you had left, making you feel like the devil himself is laughing at you - a banger, in other words.

Dangerously bass-face-inducing, precisely designed descents into madness in audio form, exactly what I needed after the festivals.

Other dark stuff from this week:

Waeys - Arrivata EP
ATMOS - Complicated EP