Picks Of The Week (08.08.26

1. Justin Hawkes - Now Or Never [Drumcaste Collective]

Recommended if you like: Sleepnet, Rob Swire, Audioscribe

You never quite know what you're gonna get from a drum & bass album. Is it just a compilation of years-old, already released singles with a couple extras thrown in? Is it a mixtape of a whole bunch of same-y tunes with the obligatory one-off non-DnB tune thrown in? Or is it heartfelt, story-driven exploration of a variety of topics the artist holds dear, while delivering some of their best-ever technical work? Well, Justin Hawkes sophomore album, Now Or Never, certainly is not one of the first two options, I can tell you that much!

1.1. Recap (2022 - 2026)

As you might remember, we have done the whole exposé on Mister Hellier's previous work back in 2022, for his debut album Existential, so I won't repeat any of that here. Since then, he has done quite well for himself, despite the ever-present anxiety about the state of the world. Multiple outings with fellow North American album dropper Bensley, including the Carry The Fire run with Kumarion we had talked about on here as well, a bit of a stomper with T & Sugah, a couple of remixes for Camo & Krooked, Metrik and Ternion Sound, appearing on imprints like UKF, Hospital, Viper, VISION, and Bassrush - phew! As he was cruising through this post-album fun phase with a perhaps more straight-forward banger approach, however, the urge for more personal productions was starting to take over again. A new album started taking shape.

In a world ravaged by oversaturation of artificiality, measly payouts for actual artists, and the invisible hand of the algorithms dictating every second we spend on this collective consciousness here, Justin wanted to take a different approach though.

1.2. Drumcaste Collective

For this, he created the Drumcaste Collective: A human-first, specifically never-AI approach to a label. For this first outing of theirs, Justin went a route you don't often see in our scene anymore, if ever. Not only was the entire album a Bandcamp exclusive for two weeks, it has also always been and still is a pay-what-you-want release. Art for art's sake. You love to see and hear it!

1.3. Now Or Never

Intensely interrogating his own psyche and way of being across the twelve tracks that make up Now Or Never, Justin aims to make this particular journey one that resonates with its listeners on more than just a bass-face or background playlist level - a goal that he accomplishes multiple times over, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Album opener Chandelier tackles the disillusionment of living in a world run by oligarchs and venture capitalists, and the resulting insurrection-flavoured anger that comes from it. Justin expresses an at first matter-of-fact, then later on actually forceful hope that the titular chandelier swinging above the mayhem down below finally breaks, eventually effectively brought to imagination-sparking audio life with stupendously fast-paced drumwork with an abundance of snares, as the remains of the sparkling ornament crumbles down. An, in a way, uplifting answer to the heartbreakingly depressing confirmation of reality in the intro.

Together with California born-and-raised Colorado-an dance music vocalist Midnite Amity, Justin explores the cycles of being pulled into new, exciting, and perhaps dangerous relationships, on Slipping. Its cavernous opening atmosphere hard-cut zooms into a set of heavily pounding kicks and harshly cutting basses that, combined with the stunning vocals on display, cause a physical reaction in me, even on my fiftieth listen, without fail. Still just in the early parts of this particular journey, however, the track takes us from its calm-before-the-storm breakdown into a world of melodic drama reminiscent of names gone past, but before we can take actual flight, we freeze in mid-air, as the darkness takes hold and crushes down our dreams with growls of pure devestation and outright gnarly basses chugging their all into your soul. Stunning is all I can say.

Continuing the collaboration streak, Space Elevator recruits Shanic, who Justin rightfully calls a 'master of theatrically imaginative music'. We step outside our vehicle and step into the rich world of new technology. First familiar and classy, with loungey elevator music helping us settle in, growing and growing until we arrive at colder, slicker, more modern aesthetics, until we gear-shift into electric guitar fueled hyperspeed - the 10x engineers have entered the game. Security be damned, they initiate the countdown with the rigor of our times' architects of artificiality and we fly off the handle. Parts of our machinery, and perhaps humanity, might be flying off into the aether never to be seen again, but look how fast we're going! More and more, the growling basses powering our expedition start fading away, the powerfully rolling drums becoming syncopated to the point of drifting aimlessly, and the melodicality descending into the abyss, until only the piano remains.

To take our mind off of things, we make our ways through the not so silent night towards an illegal warehouse rave we've heard so much about from our sketchy but well-meaning friend, on Stomp. Inspired by late nights at Liquicity's legendary Lunar stage, MC Hawkes serenades us with hypnotising marching orders, leading us into a world of rhythmic stomping and ever-looping machinery. Its progression taking us from voodoo magic enchantment to disgust-inducing, beautiful horrors of sound design, this one is more than it lets on at first.

Continuing our journey through the nocturnal, insomniac Justin professes his deep love for the quieter, darker times of the day, on Night. While the lyric sheet must look very short and repetitive, Justin shifts the emphasis, pronounciations and rhythm of it with every iteration, offering something new on every round. In between the growls of bassy darkness, our little moonflower here explores every remaining shade of grey, before the triangular arrangement is completed with a set of precisely fine-tuned bass stabs undergoing all sorts of changes of their own. With both us and the breakdown now in a Trance, Justin slows it down into Halftime territory, with even meaner bass stabs, and an outro that will satisfy all the frog lovers out there.

The soundsystem is powered down, most people went home, but we're still sitting here at the lake, listening to Two Faced. A full-on spotlight on Justin's truly excellent songwriting and vocal performance, this one is break from all the productionary madness, with somber pianos, fire crackles, and even country-esque violins providing the backdrop for our main man here. Relationships that start fading away, apologies that come too late, long distances that grind the connection down to the very bone - all sorts of beautiful messes that can humanity can come up with are explored here, in most wonderful fashion.

Speaking of wonderful. Title track, and probably my favourite of the bunch, Now Or Never strikes a very different, albeit just as personal, chord. A story of how he met the love of his life - whether that's his Siberian cat Snacks or his wife is up for you to decide - wrapped in a blanket of nostalgic synth flute melodies and uplifting, heart-pounding, ever-cascading intensity that I can't help but shed a tear every time it comes on. As Justin utters the titular words in an effort to hype himself up to ask the question, the fizzy feeling of love at first sight, the moment of realisation that this is it, this is the one, infiltrates the listener's heart and soul in ways the vast majority of tunes don't manage to. You can feel the love poured into this one, and I am frankly obsessed.

Otherworldly experiences are not just found in interpersonal relationships though, they can, perhaps, also literally come from other worlds. On his very own spin on Disclosure Day, The Messenger, Justin whips up a well built-up storm of relentlessly looping high frequencies, hits of pure bass insanity and piercing drums. Tuning our translation frequency further and further, new layers of insanity and mind-melting madness are unveiled, until we arrive at numerical and even morse codes, pointing us to the visitors from outer space, warning us of rumpunctious bearers of false gifts and broken promises. If only we listened!

To survive the insanity of day to day life, it can help to find escape from it every now and then. On Show Me How, Justin looks inward, seeking to explore the worlds within himself. Two kicks versus syncopated drumwork is in some ways a familiar pattern, but their vastly lower energy compared to contemporary spins on the same formula makes it feel more like a view inside the overstimulated mind, a soothing waterfall of chaos in between each heart beat. With glitter in the air, trance-y melodies hiding underneath and his actually impressive vocal range on display, this one goes deeper and becomes a meditative journey of its own.

Tethys, named after the titanic mother of river gods and oceanids, ups the drama considerably, and puts the onus for the next step 'all on you'. Not only is the uncredited yet incredible vocal enchanting in its own right, the seemingly uncontrollable drumwork in the intro and eventual mutilation of said vocal into haunting chops makes you feel like everything is about to crumble down. And that, it is! Extremely cool drums, intricately arranged, layered perfectly, and syncopated to the point where I'm thinking back to IJDK's vocal, distorted basses that rip you to shreds, and vocal chop melodies that make your head spin. This is legitimately fantastic and might as well be produced by someone like Sleepnet, it's that well made. I'm not as sure on the specifics of the thematics at play here, but I'm choosing to read this one in the context of the climate crisis. The vocal is the titular river god speaking to us and giving up its fight entirely, with only a shadow of her former self remaining in our minds, continuously reminding us of our duty. The drumwork is unpredictable and forceful in ways we are simply not prepared for. Waves of bass crashing all over us. There's something there! Either way though, an incredible tune all around.

With the one and only Audioscribe joining him on Wayward, we are treated to one last collab before we roll over the finish line. Guitar driven, in both distant electricity and close-up acousticness, the beginning leaves Justin a ton of space to explore the topic at hand: talking directly to the titular wayward (I'm told it means ungovernable, who knew!) child, urging it to not hide themselves away from the world they can't seem to fit in, and instead embrace their heart and live freely. Justin's vocal's rise up from understanding to ethereally uplifting leads us right into the genuinely impressive rapid-fire, superbly fine-tuned storm of percussion and massively distorted, bassy, futuristic stabs to the heart that have become Mr. Hawkes' signature move. A true whirlwind of emotion, taking its time to calm down with a most lovely outro.

And that is where we end on with our finale, Reach, too. Acceptance, freedom, and ultimately, as he puts it, pure love. Pure love is also the phrase I would use to describe that tuned guitar lead. It instantly puts you in a different mood, no matter what. It makes you forget about the pains of the world. And once Justin starts his titular, awe-inspiring and goosebump-inducing chant, you, too, start reaching for happiness, for peace, for the light. Sonically it's a bit of a electronic music infused Rock opera, with the aforementioned melody roaming freely in the chorus in ways that will scratch your brain in all new ways. In a way it reminds me of the album closers that Rob Swire has been responsible for over the years. Different in many ways from the rest of the experience yet perfectly fitting, while giving you that distinct feeling of the end credits rolling on through. We've made it, we're still here, changed. This journey is over, but a new one has just begun.

1.4. Conclusion

I love basically everything Justin does, but he has truly outdone himself here. It is as grandiose as it is up-close and personal, it tackles themes so deeply tied to his soul that it opens up doors for you as well, and it is simply and truly incredibly well-made all-around. The antithesis to the cheaply made banger, the generated slop, the cold veneer of corporate industry. This one will stick with me for a long time.