Tygris - Shadow Box

With a healthy catalog of dynamic tracks across the tempo spectrum, Tygris has delivered precision, fidelity, and musical clarity year after year alongside our internal cast of talented creatives. For The Rust Music’s 83rd release, we were given the opportunity to debut the next iteration of Tygris compositions, this time reaching towards a new bounty of songwriting fundamentals and engineering choices for fresh inspiration. For his first full release of 2024, he’s coming out of the gate at full speed with his newly minted Shadow Box drum and bass EP.

Fusing his in-house blend of pulsing side-chains and throaty synthesis with the trappings of drum and bass productions feels, in a word, natural. Each track is an entire narrative of its own, taking listeners on multi-tiered instrumental journeys through the Tygris palate. Honing in on percussive runs and rock-solid bass lines, the EP pays its respects to the influences that shaped it while pushing Tygris’ arrangement and production skills to their next fulcrum. For fans, collectors, and selectors of contemporary drum and bass music, Shadow Box is sure to be an instant grab and a stalwart favorite for 2024.

Artwork by Pete Cote.


Squalpat & Tygris – Asteroid Blues

Nearly 4 years to the day since the release of Packaging Solutions, Squalpat and Tygris have reimagined their collaborative style with a fresh and succinct lease on sound. Their latest minted work, Asteroid Blues is a two-track EP with both a heavy swing and a lush palette in tow. 

Pulling influence from soul, jazz, trip-hop, and contemporary synthesis and production,  Asteroid Blues opens at a high velocity, and closes with a resounding wind-down. Reinvigorating their compositional gait, both tracks are representative of their individual and collaborative evolution, showcasing fluid songwriting, dialed-in synthesis, and rhythmic flair with clear specificity. For fans and appreciators of instrumental electronic music across the spectrum, Asteroid Blues is a must-have release for any discerning catalog.


V/A - Oxidized, Vol. 3

Artwork by Mocktail

The Oxidized compilation series is a charity project we have been working on since the inception of The Rust Music, with Oxidized, Vol. 1 being our very first label release in February 2017. At the end of each year we select a new charity, aid organization, or non-profit, to which all proceeds from the series are donated. In the past we have donated to organizations focusing on natural disaster aid, environmental restoration and preservation, as well as civil/human rights advocates and COVID-19 relief efforts on local, national, and international levels. Proceeds from the Oxidized series in 2022 and 2023 will be donated to support equal rights to healthcare and access to abortion.

Across the last 6 years, we've recurrently tapped into a network of both our roster talent and our close associates across the experimental electronic music spectrum to craft our first two Oxidized compilations. Now, for the final entry in the Oxidized Trilogy, we've brought together 32 producers, songwriters, and musicians from the US, the UK, Germany and Georgia to craft 28 tracks that cross through a medley of motifs in Hip-Hop, Drum & Bass, Downtempo, and more. Please relax and enjoy this curated selection of moods and attitudes, courtesy of The Rust Music and our extended kinfolk.


5AM Trio - Triovision

Art: 5AM

Art: 5AM

Hurling through stereo space and time, the 5AM project has fused a myriad of collaborative forces into a space-aged ensemble. He has brought to full fruition a vision of electronic music that pulls from the expansive arrangement styles of jazz and jam, and was borne from the stage as much as the studio. The addition of fellow Philadelphians ZONE Drum's dynamic percussion and Tygris' combination of electronic production, bass guitar, and turntablism has brought 5AM's music into fresh, improvisational territory. Over a year of trio appearances across the country and countless hours spent practicing and workshopping the tunes have forged this combined musical might into a fierce, producer-driven, multi-instrumental act, and this synergy has produced a lush, organic set of tunes; the Triovision EP.

The hi-fi production and fluid composition across Triovision are in line with 5AM’s conventional output, but the addition of Tygris and ZONE Drums on the record itself amounts to far more than just a touch of extra spice. Brazen cuts, organic fills, and instrumental synchronicity breathe a whole new life into 5AM’s patented blend of soul, jazz, and sheer bass weight. The added complement of Maya Elise’s vocal work and call-and-response guitar licks from Keith Wadsworth of Wax Future spread a lasting blanket of emotion across the record, accenting the concise production with succinct musicianship. Each track complements the greater whole of Triovision, gradually building on tempo, tension, and arrangement. It’s the typified journey through sound, brought to life through rounded edges, sultry chord progressions, and precision engineering. As an instrumentalist, 5AM’s chops have never been shone so brilliantly, and as a composer, Triovision is a well-rounded re-interpretation of his signature sonic adventures.


The Rust Music - Auburn Etch [VA]

The Rust Music is honored to present our third compilation, Auburn Etch. Departing from the variable genres of our previous Oxidized compilations, this collection of music is a full service package of brolic and boisterous bass music. We’re tapping into the global reservoir of talent for this release, presenting producers from the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Poland, and Australia.

Featuring high-octane rhythms, visceral sound design, brutish breakdowns, and break-neck musical phrasing, each track on this compilation represents a one-inch-punch of high fidelity audio production. Danny Grooves, Rumpistol, and Easyjack have lent their production wizardry and impeccable rhythm to the compilation, anchoring a release that showcases the unhindered skillsets of 5AM, Maxfield, Wessanders, and a host of other young-blooded producers with a tenable ferocity for meticulously processed synthesis.

Auburn Etch is a necessity in the catalog of any discerning audiophile. It’s full of those sonic sensations that are fondly familiar, and those that are new and boundary breaking.