Kiefer - Bridges

Following the release of prolific LPs in each of the past two years, the Los Angeles-based pianist and jazz hip-hop producer Kiefer is back with his third drop, a smooth yet experimental six-track EP titled Bridges on the stalwart Stones Throw Records. Kiefer has more than earned his stripes in Los Angeles’ happening beat scene; he’s a constant in Mndsgn’s live trio and has production credits with Anderson .Paak and Kaytranada. In just a few days he’ll be hitting the road to perform Bridges and more with a robust jazz ensemble.

Among contemporary musicians who boldly blend jazz and hip-hop, Kiefer distinguishes himself with his virtuosity on the piano. He was taught to play at a very young age by his father, and would later study under renowned jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell at UCLA’s Jazz Studies program. He works with melodic jazz chords and offers insane riffs, moving up, down and across scales and styles to create colorful and diverse tonal palettes. Bridges finds Kiefer using new instruments including analog synthesizers alongside his signature piano, and taking a more thoughtful and intricate approach to songwriting.

On his debut Kickinit Alone and then 2018’s Happysad, Kiefer kept close at hand beat tape motifs like repeating phrases and piano loops (although he played the loops were played by Kiefer himself and not sampled himself). With Bridges, an entendre alluding to the musical bridge, he expands the scope of his composition and arrangement and takes greater risks. Listen closely as analog synthesizers delicately garnish “Orange Crayon”, or take the lead in “Cute”. True to its name, “Sunny” is a musical representation of a fantastical stroll in the sunshine. Kiefer lets his fingers loose on this one and serves up dizzying piano phrasing, though in key moments it’s the notes not played that may evoke the greatest response.

Next week Kiefer is hitting East Coast cities including New York and Philadelphia then heading abroad for his first headlining European tour. He’ll be backed by jazz musicians including Jonah Levine (trombone, keys), Sam Gendel (alto saxophone), Andy McCauley (bass), and Will Logan (drums). For a small taste of his live show, check out this live recording of tunes from Happysad.

Kiefer hit on such an attractive and indeed addictive jazz-hop sound with his first two releases that it would have been all too easy to stay in that lane and continue crushing. It’s all the more admirable, then, that he sought out new musical ground on Bridges. Despite the slight switch up in style, the warm, welcoming vibe of his music is unchanged. He hopes it can provoke smiles and positive emotion from his audience. “It’s comforting to see someone who is truly dedicated to making beautiful stuff,” he says, “I want people to see someone genuinely pour their heart into something.” 

FOLLOW Kiefer: Bandcamp / Spotify / Soundcloud / Instagram / Stones Throw

ALEPH - NEXT HYPE [EP]

@aleph_sound Art: www.instagram.com/matt.psd/ Blending classic motifs with modern production ethos, Renraku presents NEXT HYPE, a 4-track ep by ALEPH. Following his debut on Mat Zo’s imprint, MAD ZOO, and several widely successful sample packs on splice, ALEPH brings his self-described “Apocalypse Rave” sound to the next level. Whether it’s the break ridden analog bass music “ULTRAVIOLET”, the subharmonic grooves of the titular “NEXT HYPE”, the deconstructed-then-refined riddim in “CHAMPION SOUND”, or the wall shaking warehouse-on-acid “LA$ER BEAM$”, NEXT HYPE brings a far future sound to electronic music built from the remnants of the past that will keep you moving from now til 20XX.

Fresh out of the wake of his single release last week, ALEPH unveils his newest collection of sonic hand grenades with the full release of the NEXT HYPE EP. Thoroughly germinated with his signature fidelity-busting textures, this EP is at once both familiar and entirely unique; utilizing his preferred language of audio asymmetry and brutish compression, ALEPH covers a host of tempos of atmospheres across the four collective tracks.

“ULTRAVIOLET” is the brain buster you didn’t know you were looking for, opening the EP with spectral filtering and positively massive breaks. High-resonance filters sweep across the upper-mid-range, highlighting harmonics and distorting the brightest points of synthesis into a veritable ceiling. The bass lines are a vicious amalgamation of home-brewed sound design and relentless resampling, with every last audio artifact taken fully advantage of.

“LA$ER BEAMS” is the heavy-weight closer, bringing the EP to an eruptive end. The song itself is a 12-gauge blast to the senses, with every texture, tone, and waveform viciously distorted into an aural 1-inch punch. Staccato resampling busts the beat in half while fractured acid synthesis spikes and phases in and out of the wider stereo space. Just when you think you’ve hit the peak of intensity, the next bar is waiting to push the audio envelope even further.

Renraku Global Media has featured ALEPH across their release cycle for nearly two years and running, and it’s absolutely no wonder why. With such a diverse production palette coupled with his massive execution, ALEPH is shaping up to be far more than just the typical low-end enthusiast. Pay close attention to his future endeavors, as he’s sure to continue busting boundaries and redefining the landscape of sound design and engineering. For a further look into the EP, check out our premier and review of the title track “NEXT HYPE” here.

FOLLOW ALEPH: SoundCloud / Facebook / Spotify

FOLLOW RENRAKU: SoundCloud / Facebook / Bandcamp

Lone Drum - Pedal Boss

Ascending from the mutant landscape of Gastropodia Prime, Lone Drum steps out of the lab and into the spotlight with his first solo release, Pedal Boss. The 5-track EP is a brain-busting hay maker of a record, ripe with dirty interpolation and space-aged hip-hop rhythms. As the scratch savant of the neuro-hop trio K.L.O, Lone Drum has been steadily injected into the bloodstream of the global bass music ear canal, and he absolutely smashes the bar with his first personal explosion out of the Slug Wife home base.

Pedal Boss is an ode to nastiness; blistered and distorted frequencies are let loose like a race horse straight out of the stable, only to be reigned back in through sharp-edged EQ bands and swelling modulation. The entire EP remains firmly planted in hip-hop’s rhythmic territory, but contains everything other than a classic head-nodder. The sonic bravado bursting out of each track sends the adrenaline pumping, with every song begging to be rinsed through a bone-busting sound system. The brackish textures of the low-end synthesis splinter and break around the beat, with beefy kick drums firing off raucous, heat-seeking bass lines and every snare snapping each line back into place. From start to finish, this is an aural onslaught more than well deserving of the Slug Wife platform and seal of approval.

While this may be the first official Lone Drum solo release, there was never a slither of doubt as to the quality this EP would offer. Being a fellow UK gastropod, it was only a matter of time before his individual works would begin to breathe out in the open. For those as swept up in the pulse of this EP as we are, our good friends Sermon and Envisioned Arts Atlanta are teaming up on March 30th to host the only US Slug Wife takeover to date to feature K.L.O. thus far. Fans of Lone Drum will be in for more than a handful of treats should they make the trek.

FOLLOW Lone Drum: Facebook / Soundcloud / Bandcamp

ManyColors - Bangs [Single]

ManyColors is a new four-piece band that opens up new musical space by using a hip-hop format to explore chords and motifs usually reserved for jazz on their debut single “Bangs”. Soft and sure, “Bangs” offers comfort to the listener but presents a series of unanswered questions. Sonically it combines the twinkle of contemporary lo-fi aesthetics with the electric groove of older, more established styles. This is a new sort of notch in the catalog of Color Red, a Denver-based label run by Eddie Roberts, the guitarist from British jazz fusion quartet The New Mastersounds.

Braxton Kahn dials in drums that stride with a subtle and seemingly off-time step. According to Color Red, guitarist Brant Williams “aims to capture all the musicians as if they were sampled while cultivating a fresh harmonic approach.” It’s impressive that a four-piece band of trained jazz musicians can be recorded to sound like a lo-fi hip-hop beat. It’s more intriguing that they would want to. Eric Luba tickles a Fender Rhodes electric organ, gently laying down those warm melodies that are so frequently sampled in lo-fi beats. Kirwan Brown works the bass guitar well, especially during the song’s swinging second movement.

The direct-to-tape approach of the producers Mike Tallman and Josh Fairman is another gesture towards hip-hop and creates a layer of dusty reverb across the stereo spread. Despite this dust, the audio quality is top-tier, and this is refreshing. (Not to discredit anyone, but much lo-fi music mistakes poor audio quality for an aesthetic). Apparently Color Red has “several” more songs from ManyColors scheduled for 2019. If you dig the audio quality, intelligent harmonics and of course the smooth vibe, then stay chooned.

FOLLOW Color Red: Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp / Instagram

ØDYSSEE - Desired Things

There’s an old axiom that goes, “It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.” This sentiment was voiced in an old jazz tune originally performed by Ella Fitzgerald, “T’aint What You Do”. The music of ØDYSSEE, a jazzist and vibe provider of a different character, exemplifies this axiom. The Parisian producer dances along the ever-narrowing line between jazz and hip-hop while also incorporating bits of blues, boss-o-nova and electronica. Each style feels age-old, but ØDYSSEE reinvents them through a process of musical collage. On his new six-track release Desired Things he borrows bits from different styles and arranges them like a florist does a beautiful bouquet. This unconventional take on hip-hop, presented by NINETOFIVE Worldwide Beatmakers, is entirely composed and arranged by ØDYSSEE himself; there’s no sampled material here.

Lately the producer has been alternating between original compositions and sample-based music. ØDYSSEE plays the piano, synthesizer, guitar, bass and perhaps more. As some of his peers in the beatmaking world have discussed, there is a degree of tension in the industry between composition and sample-based music. Copyright infringement concerns collide with creativity and spark discussion on the history of hip-hop itself. This doesn’t appear to weigh heavily on ØDYSSEE, whose sole goal is to create deeply expressive music regardless of the technicalities behind it.

The keyboard and guitar take turns leading the musical discussion, speaking to the listener and creating dialogue with each other. They’re projected against a background of deep, velvet basslines and shimmering, aqueous synth pads. With his exceptional songwriting ability, ØDYSSEE’s melodies poke the listener in all the right spots, provoking potent emotions and ideas. One can’t help but fall into a productive daydream during the short but rich “Aquatic Groove”. ØDYSSEE’s music would not be complete without top-tier drums. Indeed, a calling card of his production style is percussion that is punctual and snappy yet swings gregariously. ØDYSSEE was influenced by the blues when he learned to play guitar. This influence is apparent across his entire catalog but makes its most dramatic appearance yet on Desired Things. On the the final cut, “Strange Dream”, the tempo dies down and the drums shuffle lazily, opening up space for raw six string dialogue to spill forward.

In tone and texture this music feels organic, yet it’s spliced together mechanically. Hip-hop offers the foundation and skeletal structure, yet the phrasing and amount of improvisation gesture towards jazz. More than most of his projects, Desired Things finds ØDYSSEE carving out new creative space. He’s not departing from the beatmaking milieux in which he began. Rather, he’s broadening the scope of what hip-hop, jazz, and blues can be in this millennium by applying his unique creativity and force of will to these well-established styles. He always has a project or three in his back pocket, too, so stay chooned.

FOLLOW ØDYSSEE:   Spotify / Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp / Facebook / Instagram

Simiah & The Phantom Ensemble - Connections

England is currently in the midst of a full-blown jazz renaissance, and the talent pouring out of this cultural eruption has a knack for bridging the gap between different strains of broken-beat music. Simiah & The Phantom Ensemble is an open-ended jazz ensemble that folds together live sampling, keys, saxophone, and a bevy of guest instrumentalists in the live sphere. On February 15th, they unveiled their debut LP Connections, establishing their particular fluidity in the studio format. The blend of sampled percussion and zoned-in conventional tones creates a smoke-screened aesthetic behind the eyes, gently touching on the senses.

Simiah is the boom-bap trooper with a vigilant duty to break the beat any way he can. Utilizing a classic MPC to channel drum lines and percussive jaunts, his control of the stereo space throughout the album is entangling, just as alive as the purebred instrumentation that rests atop it. The finger-drummed mechanics of velocity and tension are ever present, ebbing the soul of the tracks back and forth from organic to mechanic. Manning the keys with ever the careful touch, Dan Somers fleshes out vibes in every direction imaginable, blending like butter into the arrangement and mixdown of every song. Without so much as a stutter, his dexterity and precision note-to-note forms the veritable glue of the record.

Craig Crofton does justice on a moment-by-moment basis, rocking the saxophone with a sensuality that bleeds through the open space in the mix. A touch here, and riff there, all washed with a careful balance of spatial effects that soak into the tone of the brass. Altogether, this trio absolutely smashes all expectations and standards with their vibrant compositions and time-tested musicianship.

Prior to the release of Connections, the Phantom Ensembles embraced the addition of two new instrumentalists; Harriet Riley, a vibraphonist and percussionist, and the Bristol-based guitarist Chalky White, a Rust fan favorite. Upgrading the Ensemble to a five-piece was a bold endeavor, surely changing the fundamental chemistry of the band. By all accounts, especially the response to their recent live performances, these additions have been like perfect ingredients spicing this already sultry dish.

FOLLOW Simiah & The Phantom Ensemble:   Bandcamp / SoundCloud / Facebook

Withoutside - Istanbul

Outtallectuals has maintained a long-standing reputation for purveying exploratory music. Withoutside, the musical alias of Brooklynite Carey Clayton, is a fairly new project with an aptitude for ambient, phosphorescent music that now finds a home with Outtallectuals. His most recent endeavor, Istanbul, is an absolute gem of an EP, built from the ground up via a hardcore, back-to-the-roots methodology. Istanbul is composed mostly through the sampling of foley sounds from its namesake city, creating a culturally-fused vibrance that is its fundamental attraction.

“Beating feet for sampling meat” is an time-tested method to collect the wondrous textures and atmospheres of the surrounding world. Utilizing the urban sprawl of Istanbul to create a vast assortment of foley and musical material, Clayton left no stone unturned in his quest to capture the aura of this old-world metropolis. Street musicians, vendor bellows and business chimes, crashing waves smacking against port-bound ships, and a cornucopia of percussive trinkets and happy aural accidents populate each track. Accentuating the bevy of sampled gold, Withoutside also flexes multi-instrumental talent, laying down phrases from guitars, basses, synthesizers, additional percussion, and a particularly airy Cura saz. Vivacious undercurrents carry the attitude of the EP along sweeping mind-states and massive aural vistas, capturing not just the sound of Istanbul, but the bravado of this historic city as well.

Withoutside demonstrates remarkable creative vision coupled with brilliant execution, easily earning himself a place in the formidable Outtallectuals catalog. With skin in the game for eight years now, the UK-based Outtallectuals team has proven time and again that they have more than one finger on the pulse of experimental music, with over 90 international artists spanning the sonic spectrum. Istanbul couldn’t be more on par with the label’s sonic dimensions (or lack thereof). Keep Withoutside on your radar. A release such as this surely demarcates a lush, musically-pioneering future.

FOLLOW Withoutside: Soundcloud / Spotify

Resonant Language - Laminar Flow [Single]

Of the sounds echoing out of Colorado, none bear the banner of “weird” quite as dynamically as Resonant Language. Though he has only released a scant two EPs over seven years with a smattering of singles, the utterly unique structure and sound of his body of work is immaculately crafted and untouchable by words like “genre” or even “format”. While concepts like IDM or Bass Music might have some sticking power, the gravitation towards under-explored or novel areas of magnetic manipulation constantly defy expectation and often totally stymie any effort to describe him.

The new single, “Laminar Flow”, available now on Addictech and next week on Bandcamp, is no exception. With a broken beat that teases stability, he rides the line between holding predictable elements and totally subverting them. The most unusual aspect of the track, however, is the final third, in which natural drum samples creep in - suddenly the track drops into a jazzy space with a humble bluesy guitar melody. Smooth and drawn taut by the drums' occasionally breaksy stance, this is a calming wave after the storm of frenetic sound design and wandering notes. The track is mastered by Skyler Golden (Jade Cicada).

One never knows quite what to expect next with Resonant Language, which makes his music less accessible to some listeners. “Laminar Flow” is certainly more sedate than most of his released work, hence the streamlined implications of the name. With a singular devotion to his sound, he wrings unbelievable expressiveness out of his labor, truly exhibiting the emotions and struggle of making something new and challenging. While Resonant Language is often a struggle to dance to, the challenge is always worth it.

FOLLOW Resonant Language: Soundcloud / Facebook / Spotify

Dystopik - Squat Juice [Single]

Bending frequencies with blistering aggression, Dystopik reaches maximum energy levels with his latest single “Squat Juice”. This one comes of vicious label Wonk#Ay Records where Dystopik is a mainstay. He’s spent the last year and change producing all manner of bass tasters ranging across the rhythmic spectrum in both full and half-time interpretations. Within this steady string on destructive wave-bending, “Squat Juice” is another notch up on his own boisterous scale.

The meat of “Squat Juice” is it’s bone-shattering bass line. The synthesis is crushed with oversaturation and compression, resulting in a mutant tone that bangs out of speaker cones. Blasting in tandem with the bass line, the percussive design and arrangement is hair-raising and high-octane. Massive kicks propel each phrase into a bevy of heat-seeking snares that ping-pong around the tonal elements in the track. As for melody, there ultimately isn’t much. What we’re dealing with here is pure, unbridled sonic force.

Wonk#Ay Records has an reputation for fostering unconventional bass music. The raw energy that exudes from their catalog is a testament to their extensive research and scouting of underground sonic bruisers. Dystopik has certainly earned his keep with their lot, having been featured on numerous compilations and releases, including Pull Up, Feed The Contagious, and The Tronic. Stay tuned into his beefy frequency, and you might just get tossed around in a torrent of sound.

FOLLOW Dystopik: Facebook / Soundcloud

Kercha - A Very Strange Man

The beginning of the new year typically brings a wide swath of musical releases from artists looking to offload last year's final creative products, and Kercha is not about to miss out on this high-octane release season; based out of Gelendzhik, Russia, Kercha has been a mainstay contributor to SmallPrint Recordings, and excels in the design and composition of exceptionally vibey system music. His latest EP, A Very Strange Man, delivers his sonic vision with an acuity that is a testament to his meticulous production process.

The initial draw of the EP lies in the tangible difference between musical aggression and musical abrasion; eschewing abrasive tones and wide-berth frequencies, Kercha allows the rhythm to drum up the aggression of the music, as in the case of the track “Rope”. Pounding 808s and modulated sub frequencies enhance the stereo image, permeating an aural aesthetic that is both brazen and succinct. Taking a step away from large-bore sub weight and eclectic rhythmic shuffles, “Ghosts Don't Exist” instead meanders in a playfully slapstick direction. Flipping the idea of tonal dissonance on its head, the main melody lick is a subtle drop across a distance of semitones, foregoing harmonic interplay for eclectic note choice. All throughout the EP, the percussion programming and post production shine culminate in voluptuous spatial dynamics. Demonstrated to maximum effect in “A Very Strange Man”, the top layer percussion fills the top of the frequency spectrum, and serves as the focal point of the track. Terse melody elements and stabs of rounded synthesis fill in the gaps to create a stereophonic listening experience that saturates the aural spectrum.

The sea of system music covers a rapidly growing territory of genres and musical attitudes, and Kercha seems to thread in between those constantly re-established lines. Regardless of the mood or atmosphere, his catalog has grown to include a vibe for a diverse range of listeners and enthusiasts. A Very Strange Man is but the next step in an ongoing journey that has seen Kercha's music spread from the other side of the globe and back, and with SmallPrint Recordings backing the process, the guaranteed quality of his musical output is assured through and through.

FOLLOW Kercha:   SoundCloud / Spotify   / Facebook

Erothyme - Along The Arc

When Robert West (aka Bobby Blessed aka Erothyme) began making music 16 years ago, he was a young boy in high-school with big ideas and enough training in music theory to begin making the ideas real.  Swimming through classic synths, constant field recordings, a soulful and life-giving funk, and effervescent beauty that is all his own, he developed his sound over some 13 albums. Releasing nearly all of his music on his own Bandcamp, he serves as an inspiration to many; a self-made artist who never compromised his vision for popularity, financial simplicity, or the aesthetics of the time. His seminal Sound in the Living Current (2015), an epic tale of connection and grace that catapulted his artistry into the stratosphere, is so replete with softness and thematic unity that his unique style was able to express itself with ease. The Erothyme project is more than just a dance music act, it's a whole universe of glitches, angelic voices, tightly layered samples, and worshipful reverence to the beauty of existence. His small but devoted following loves him not only for his musical works but for the person it reflects; the Bobert (an affectionate nickname) is so regularly bowled over by the majesty of creation that his soul cries out to make people dance in joy and wonder, and the “tender-hearted charm” of his sets and indeed his personality fills his audience with feelings as warm and fuzzy as his groovy synths.

The latest endeavor, Along the Arc, is further from a concept album than we've seen Erothyme release in LP format, perhaps ever. It's also the most obviously understood of his releases as a dance music release, with only one track, “Vibr808”, serving as an interstitial piece not clearly intended for dancefloors, likely because all these self-release “high art” compositions have left poor Bobby with scant few bookings to feed himself. Despite this, the Erothyme project sacrifices no authenticity; ever the self-made man, Along the Arc is available on for free on his Bandcamp, features all the same sounds he's pioneered and made his own, and has a structure and continuity that allows one to engage with the album on its own terms. Not simply a collection of his most “banger-ific” material, the use of simple things like a descending twinkling arpeggios or a clarifying breath unifies tracks from one to the other, and create a reflection of one another across the album. Even the album description on Bandcamp has a nifty little text art piece that reflects the albums ebb and flow of energy across the tracks and the sound waves that compose them. Bobby is just as grandiose here with the Erothyme project as he ever was, but now with more thump.

The aspect which flourishes the most within the structure of the album is the subdivision that breaks the beat on tracks like “Maui Mindfunk” and “You Been Sleeping” - ever idiosyncratic, his more fast-paced moments of choppy samples, stuttered vocals, or all-out sound design insanity are reminiscent of both a powerful dance music wizard and an indie electronica connoisseur, a colorful combination seen far too rarely in computer music. “Truthful Trustfall” and “Psyche Rising” both have a firm sense of drum and bass, keeping pace with the rhythm while engaging with natural instruments like bird song. “Adorbitable” balances its subdivided notes with an growing boom and clap that seems to create a reverb-laden atmosphere of fuzz, but never becomes too aggressive to distract the listener from its distinctive breaks.

Another powerful trait of Along the Arc is the funky synth lines that have been the main feature in Erothyme sets for so long. Developed through his long history with piano and his constant cleaving to inspired improvisation, tracks like “SynchroNIFTY” and “Rhythm Sanctified” will have longtime fans squealing with joy. “Leap Across” plays with both the most soulful and furious of his funk emotions, sustaining itself magnificently across an epic 5-and-a-half minute runtime, peaking in its final gasps like a bright, burning flare before settling back into a vocal echo chamber, steadily handing the baton to the rippling bass of “Truthful Trustfall”. Bobby has the funk (he is, in fact, a soul) and considers it part of the project’s roots, but rarely does he release it on album material – previously it had only been the main feature on the EPs Four Weird Tracks Record Labels Hate and Inner Space Overhaul, and occasionally on the brilliant compilation of odds and ends called Bobby Steps.

What makes the Erothyme project unique is not just the constant use of his field recorder and sound design chops to innovate novel sonic elements, nor is it his slavish devotion to the delicate beauty of his aesthetic, nor even his cheerful and relatable conversation when at a gig and his connection with his fans. The unlikely synchronicity of all these traits is rare, to be sure, but what pushes Bobby over the edge into a territory all his own is the sheer emotional strength of his music. You can feel the forest, see the sky, hear the river, because he believes in the emotional power of these things. You can sense the tender openness in his voice, casual in “Vibr808” and affected in “You Been Sleepin”. You can embrace the aching, worshipful perspective expressed through melody and pulsing sub-bass, and be moved, even to tears. One of the most meaningful artists I have ever met, nobody holds a candle to Bobby's Erothyme project, both in terms of personal, audible growth and refusal to compromise the central ideals of his artistry. It is his, and his alone, and we are the lucky ones who get to know about him and dance in the soft glow of his light. Along the Arc is a well-thought move designed to extend both his performance career and his release catalogue to new heights, satisfying old fans and making new ones for a potent new year of growth. Long live the Perpetual Victory Machine!

FOLLOW Erothyme: Soundcloud / Spotify / Facebook

Secret Recipe - The Future is Never Here

One of the Bay Area's finest homegrown bass music producers, Secret Recipe, comes correct with a new four-track release titled, appropriately, The Future is Never Here. The EP invites listeners into a kaleidoscope of precise, rarified sound design while demonstrating a progressive, non-linear approach to songwriting.

Benji Hannus (Secret Recipe) can craft many a dancefloor banger. With this release, however, we find him constantly returning to the drawing board to conjure one-of-a-kind, highly cinematic compositions that are barely patterned on contemporary dancefloor electronic music. Songs like "Eventually" contain a series of movements unto themselves, short sections where a specific musical idea is developed fully, or not, before being dissolved into a new idea. Like a series of sonic spells, Secret Recipe casts these to excite your ears.

This style distinguishes The Future is Never Here from other Secret Recipe music, which is itself distinguished from other bass music. This does not come about by chance, but rather by careful study. Few producers have had the opportunity to see performances from and correspond with as many or their peers as Benji. As one of the principals of Wormhole Entertainment and Wormhole Music Group and an independent promoter before that in Santa Cruz, Hannus has facilitated sets from countless producers, particularly over the past six years through the Wormhole Wednesday weekly parties in Oakland. We'd hunch that witnessing so many performances from his contemporaries subtly or not so subtly motivated Hannus to swerve with Secret Recipe music and pursue roads less traveled.

The title for this release is thought provoking. Is the future never here because it's instead always the present? Or rather because once it arrives, the future is no longer the future. Either way, this koan appears to point at a desire to innovate endlessly, to harness the new before it becomes old or even before it becomes current. Secret Recipe's potent sound design, while scoring highly, does not hit the bullseye of innovation. His means of conceptualizing songs, though, does indeed. Writing bass music under few compositional constraints; that's the innovation of The Future is Never Here.

FOLLOW Secret Recipe: Facebook / Soundcloud / Spotify / Instagram

Schmoop - Charge [Single]

Schmoop just dropped one of the most scalding hot heaters heard this year. “Charge” is a straightforward three-minute build-drop composition with sound design from a higher dimension that hits like a ton of bricks. Who is Schmoop? He’s a producer from urban Texas and one half of Wonky Llama, the popular and somewhat enigmatic side project of Jade Cicada. Most of the mystery surrounding this project came from the relative anonymity of its second half. Speculate no more, because with this track - and a second tune “Get Back” dropping this Saturday - Schmoop is stepping out in a big way.

Although it’s just one song, five to ten listens today might be justified - it’s that good. “Charge” opens with a brief moment of atmospheric sound. Then the beat drops and the listener, invaded by a mix of fright and amazement, scrambles for his or her seatbelt like they just saw four cop cars. The same charged sound design that makes Wonky Llama music so attractive is refined and dialed in even further here. The bar is raised as thick kicks and snares fall into a gravely, groaning, deep, and just disgusting pit of synthesis.

Until today, five songs existed under the Schmoop name; four on the innovative Wonky Llama EP Noms, and one self-released digital ballad called “Sleep Moments”. This cut feigns simplicity with with its lack of bravado, but a deep listen points to Schmoop’s knack for provocative songwriting. This available material hits on the same “video game” sound that Jade Cicada, Smigonaut and few others push forward. Perhaps all electronic music could be cast as a video game soundtrack to some. But the discerning ear will hear in music from these cats noises tuned to gesture towards sound effects and jingles from millennial childhood classics like Zelda. That sound is absent, though, on “Charge”, which is straight gangster business.

Schmoop performed at Co:Creation in Texas last summer and he’s also played some shows in his home state, few enough that you could count on one hand. This Friday he’ll plug in for his first out-of-state set, supporting Jade Cicada & Detox Unit along with Craftal at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver. Then on Saturday, keep your ears perked for "Get Back”. Many producers come out swinging with their debuts. It’s tough to remember one land a knockout blow straight to the jaw like Schmoop.

FOLLOW Schmoop: Soundcloud / Instagram / Facebook

all:Lo Collective - all:Lo Compilation Vol. 1

Surfacing out of the vast musical wilderness that is Colorado, all:Lo Collective is a burgeoning label that aims to be steeped in all things low fidelity and low frequency. Parker Williams (parkbreezy), Phil Gallo (pheel), and Diana Neculcea man the helm of the operation, which informally began in 2017. As of 2018, they have officially launched the label into the public realm, and intend on immediately setting the bar at a righteous height with their ambitious first release, the all:Lo Compilation Vol. 1. Striving to connect hip-hop and bass music with an especially swampy flair, their top priority is injecting Colorado, and the music scene at large, with a refreshing perspective on the common musical tropes and pathways within these respective genres.

Capitalizing on hip-hop’s undeniable influence in broken-beat music, all:Lo Collective focuses on curating and disseminating dusty beats, slapstick rhythms, and juicy sub frequencies. Their first compilation does an excellent job of showcasing just what kind of sound and the quality of production they have in mind, and craftily bridges the gaps between a spate of producers who encompass a wide swath of various genres. Featuring forward-thinking and exploratory musicians such as Nocturnal Status, Dillard, Primate, and of course pheel. and parkbreezy, this collection of soul-drenched tracks creates a deliberately smokey, cumulus texture for the ears. Ranging in tempo, attitude, and aural narrative, this all:Lo compilation displays the due diligence done by it's benefactors, and the result is sheer audible sensuality.

Aphasia opens the compilation with “Orbifrontal Entourage”, a boundless flight through zero gravity. Tasteful blending of monochromatic pads and top-layer percussion drive the composition through the stratosphere, and sampled stabs of stereo synthesis steer the notation and emotional interplay of the track. Sandwiched squarely in the center of this release, parkbreezy and pheel. display the dynamic of their combined brain power with a VIP of “Cluttered Time Machine”. The rhythm rests perfectly in the pocket for the duration of the track, zeroing in on the head-nod attitude that all:Lo endeavors to cultivate. Twists of choice synthesis flicker and dance in between the crunch and punch of kicks and snares laden with supple compression. Of particular note is the hip-hop-fashioned, succulent Primate track, “Relaxtion”. Balancing on a tempo that is a bit sparing within his established discography, Primate brings a jazz-first mentality to the table; deliciously funky basslines respond to the call of slightly detuned rhodes chords that turn over in each phrase, revealing sparse, deliberate notes that resolve every measure.

With all three owner-operators having already spent years as fans and strident members of our amorphous global community, it is endearing and encouraging to know that all:Lo Collective has a genuine mission with genuine passion. With patience, specificity, motivation, and a little bit of elbow grease, all:Lo Collective has made a bullrush out of the gates with all:Lo Compilation Vol. 1. I’d tell you to pay close attention to the future endeavors of this stand-out team, but they are already certain to be invading your ear holes in no time at all.

FOLLOW all:Lo Collective: SoundCloud / Bandcamp / Facebook

Chalky - Second Beach

Replete with all the flair, shine, and cinematic attitude of jazz music’s ballroom past, Chalky lays down an incredibly delicious interpretation of nu jazz with grandiose compositional strength in his debut album Second Beach. Based out of Bristol, a city currently making tremendous strides in various musical directions, Chalky White is a multi-instrumentalist steeped in a lifetime of aural immersion and experimentation. Earlier this year, he released Bright Spots, a collaborative album with fellow Bristol bandit Sandy Finlayson, otherwise known as Seppa. That collection of tunes was the first full serving of Chalky’s considerable virtuosity, and the production value acted like an industrial adhesive for the bevy of tones featured on each track, thanks to Seppa’s engineering prowess.

Doubling down on lush instrumental dialogue and hardcore jazz motifs, Chalky takes the compositional direction entirely into his own hands in Second Beach. The arrangement of each track mirrors the overall flow of the album; strings, brass, keys, accordion, omnichord, and buttery vocals rest in the pocket of noire-flavored drums and voluptuous low-end. Opening the album with a dash of splendor and a high vibe, “Me and You” easily slides from a flashy, orchestral introduction into a sensual groove befitting a red-light mood. Entire scales are crossed and rehashed through a constant revolution with each texture gracefully overtaking the last. As the song comes to it's resounding back-end, perfunctory synthesis fills the upper frequency spectrum, while earthy sub-weight carries each phrase to it's natural cadence. Combining dextrous arpeggios with call-and-response chord progressions, “Distant Victory” is the natural resting point of the album, aptly squared away in the middle of the tracklist. With ease and tremendous attitude, major and minor phrasing is tossed back and forth like a firebrand tango between your brain's left and right hemispheres.

Capitalizing on what is clearly a fluency in harmony, Chalky fails to waste a good moment for unexpected, playful turnarounds on each refrain, gradually spinning his songs into sublime hip-hop rhythms. Bringing the album to a close amidst a mist of vivacious soundscapes, “Lore” channels an aqueous and asymmetrical aesthetic. Combining jazz licks, pitted percussion, and tone-bending synthesis, the wash of reverb and dialed-in delay create a stereo width that crosses sensory borders, becoming an especially physical experience.

For Chalky White, Second Beach is an ode to a musical heritage and familial upbringing within his hometown of Looe, Cornwall. It is the sound of youthful wanderlust tempered by an intuitive understanding of sonic effluence. Having already demonstrated the ability and willingness to work well with musicians and producers in various directions, it is extremely exciting to watch an artist blossom into their own aural identity in real time. With all the exceptional music coming from Bristol and elsewhere in the UK, do not make the mistake of letting Chalky sail under your radar.

FOLLOW Chalky: SoundCloud / Bandcamp / Facebook

Boukas - The Coffee Tape Vol. 1

The talented and abstract beatmaker Boukas returns with his second full-length release, The Coffee Tape Vol. 1 which comes as per usual through NINETOFIVE Worldwide Beatmakers. Boukas aka Dennis Boukas of Stockholm, Sweden has been working on these compositions throughout the autumn. This is reflected in the album’s jazzy motif and sparse compositions, which swing in the breeze like gangly trees removed of their leaves.

The album is dedicated to that bitter, comforting, dark drink that can be a beatmaker’s best friend. The Coffee Tape is less transcendental than Boukas’ full-length debut The Setting, and thus more appropriate for everyday listening. On this last album as well as the EP A Song for Samantha, Boukas demonstrates his ability to fuse dub with beats music - a rare and prolific combination. This overt stylistic combo is absent on The Coffee Tape. While that’s not what some might expect from Boukas, he executes the straight-forward boom-bap beat with effortless grace, making for a head-turning change of pace.

With a placid stereo spread and a soft and simple bouquet of instrumental samples, The Coffee Tape is not just “appropriate” but ideal for everyday listening. Indeed, each track on the album is representative of a different cup of coffee throughout the day from “The First One” to “The Last One” to “Afterwork”. “Basically, there’s always time for a coffee break”, writes Dennis. We couldn’t agree more, but with twelve beats total on this record, we think Boukas may in fact need a water break.

According to Dennis, he always tries to paint pictures with his music. His paining style, then, is minimal and his hand is steady. His color palette is limited in its variety, but the colors he does paint with across The Coffee Tape - beige, brown, yellow, off-white, light orange, deepest green - are rich in hue. His percussion always pops, but set against such a sparse background here, the muffled kicks and crisp, cut-off snares stand out all the more.

Perhaps the most abstract cut on The Coffee Tape is our favorite; “Metropolis”. Tying back to the album’s theme, this song may be representative of perhaps not a single cup of joe, but rather the broad association between coffee and the cosmopolitan. Lightly plucked guitar strings stir together as if in liquid with a synthesizer melody that sounds like it’s played not by fingers but by a feather. The tune exemplifies a meditative stillness that Boukas cultivates on this album. One will be hard-pressed to find a series of twelve instrumentals more relaxing than these jazz-infused cafe beats.

FOLLOW Boukas:   Soundcloud   /   Bandcamp / Facebook / NINETOFIVE

KOAN Sound - Polychrome

Three years after their last EP and nearly seven years after their first, the production powerhouse duo KOAN Sound unveil their most ambitious and lucid music to date; Polychrome. Stuffed with 11 fully developed compositions, KOAN Sound’s first full-length LP is an aural odyssey that presents itself with taste-making vision. It represents a next step in the production theory behind the neuro sound and style progenated by KOAN Sound themselves. This pioneering tag team has been deep in the alchemical mindscape of sound design and audio engineering, and the result is a revamping of their personal flair and a beyond advanced understanding of stereophonic sound.

Alongside the likes of Culprate, Kursa, Disprove, Skope, and others, KOAN Sound had a strong hand in developing and refining the amorphous, phased-out umbrella genre of “neuro” music. Characterized by time-based warping and glitching, highly compressed percussion, multi-band frequency splitting and processing, and mid-tempo arrangements, neuro has become a ubiquitous and infectious influence among the incoming generation of bass music producers the world over. While the quest to emulate the unique design and form of music native to KOAN Sound and their contemporaries can beget encouragement and excitement, part of what made this musical offshoot so enticing in the first place is how utterly meticulous and left-field it’s Promethean parents are. Polychrome stands tiers above the general landscape of eclectic, broken-beat music, as one should expect it to.

To consider what makes this album so enriching for the ears, start with the mix down. The sheer volume of tones, textures, and saturated frequency space requires a well-choreographed dance and blend of stereo depth, panning, compression, EQing, and one hell of a set of ears (or two) to dial in such utter fidelity. “Cobalt”, the first track on the album, creates balance between the bevy of digital instruments at play. Characteristic of KOAN Sound, the song is busy but this does not muck over the articulate glitches, arcs, and crescendos that populate the upper frequency spectrum. Likewise, the brolic distortion and re-sampled texture of the bass reverberates just enough to have a full body, but is instantaneously cut with each down beat through juiced-up volume ducking and compression algorithms.

If the crystal clear mix-down can be described as the album’s “presentation”, then the “ingredients” are inherently the composition, arrangement, and emotional intent of each track. “Chalk It Out”, a collaborative jazzhole with Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist Chalky White, allows KOAN Sound’s linear, progressive songwriting abilities to shine. In a music culture sometimes saturated with two- or three- minute tracks and build-drop-build-drop structures, a full composition like this one, that has proper room and license to flourish, is a breath of fresh air. Fizzy production and tactile synthesis merge intuitively with organic instrumentation, morphing into a potpourri of harmonies and graceful dialogue. Each measure gradually introduces subtle changes to existing tonal elements while new musical phrases mesh and meld in and out of the mix.

While all 11 tracks within Polychrome are characteristically KOAN Sound in nature, they cross a variety of tempos, rhythms, and attitudes, displaying years of experimentation finally brought together under a single release. “Virtual Light” feels reminiscent of earlier, melody-driven KOAN Sound works which capitalized on the particular notation of high-octane neuro synthesis. Symmetrical stutters and glitched-out turnarounds form the ambiguous boundary lines of a self-contained orb of fundamentally freeform music. Folds of liquid low-end wrap around stabs of rounded alto notes, creating an arrangement with the physical quality of non-newtonian fluid.

At its absolute peak of intensity, the album explodes in a righteous firestorm of primal DnB. Channeling the undeniable power of England’s favorite flavor of aggressive music, “Hydroplane” unleashes bass weight with a vicious roar, concentrating the total firepower of KOAN Sound’s extensive years of production wizardry into a single shot. Extreme amounts of reverb and saturation color the synthetic textures with an oceanic exuberance, causing the track to pulse like a newly formed quasar. Earlier this year, KOAN Sound debuted this track for fans old and new on a monstrous Hennessey Sound System during the evening hours at Psychedelic Sleepover. The raw force with which it ripped through the speaker cones warrants a moment of a silence for what surely became a few ruptured eardrums.

It is by no means without precedent for artists and musical projects to go dormant for some span of time while they begin their next creative endeavors. All throughout the last three years, KOAN Sound performed sparingly at boutique festivals and one-off musical events, choosing instead to focus the majority of their time on polishing their comprehension of production. The enduring patience of their supporters has given way to a brilliant maturation of their musical vision, and it goes without saying that all good things come in time.

Polychrome has done what many similar post-breakout endeavors fail to do; it captures the listener by immersing the senses in a unique interpretation of nostalgia and inexperience. On the heels of such a remarkable endeavor, it is safe to say that we are all holding our breath for the arrival of an equally sought-after tour. As 2019 approaches, a new album coupled with a new year just might be enough to put KOAN Sound more directly in line with our future selves.

FOLLOW KOAN Sound: Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp / Official

Gramatik - Street Bangerz Vol. 5

Ten years to the day since Gramatik dropped Street Bangerz Vol. 1 and began turning a new sub-section of music heads on to boom-bap instrumentals, he returns like the long-lost hero Odysseus bearing SB5, or Street Bangerz Vol. 5, a capstone for his hallowed series of high fidelity hip-hop compilations. With gold-plated production, talented features, tiny allusions and clever composition, Gramatik is able to brilliantly gesture toward his musical past while making music that is completely contemporary. Some doubted that Denis Jašarević would come back with another Street Bangerz. What they forgot is that his infatuation with his home city can’t be contained (why should it be?) and that he’ll never miss an opportunity to pay homage to the Big Apple.

SB5 isn’t as rough around the edges as the original Street Bangerz, but surely no one expected it to be. Certain musical material has been left behind and replaced with Gramatik’s newer flare, like the layered guitar and synthesizer melodies that he began to hone on Street Bangerz Vol. 3 and perfected on The Age of Reason. Taken as a whole, the album does not have the beat tape posture that the older Bangerz did. It doesn’t stray too far from the sound design and musical motifs that Gramatik has grown fond of more recently. Songs like “I Know It” or “East River Soul” featuring Chris McClenney & Adam Stehr, for example, would fit within any Gramatik release from the past three to four years.

At the same time, tunes like “Good Lovin” and “What’s the Use of Jivin’” are pure throwbacks to the earlier Bangerz, with the latter song alluding directly to one of Gramatik’s most famous early cuts, “Hit That Jive”. It’s got all the energy of the original, if not the same pocket. One of Gramatik’s many sonic signatures are those high-pitched vocal samples, cut to pieces and spliced back together in a fashion that seems haphazard, but fits so congruently with the backbeat. This stamp is all over SB5 on songs like “Step Aside”, where the vocals jump and duck in between running string samples and stomping keys. While the musical material has undergone a lifetime’s worth of changes, the same attitude that inspired the original Bangerz is embedded in this new album. To have thought for one second that this would not be the case would be to misunderstand the man behind the sunglasses.

Whether torrented or streamed on Youtube, early Gramatik music including Street Bangerz Vol. 1 arguably connected a new generation and sub-section of music heads to boom-bap and hip-hop instrumentals.

Almost right on cue, Gramatik combines the old and the new elements of his catalog on “Bring it Up”, a front-runner for our favorite tune on SB5. Picture a soul standard, complete with James Brown’s voice, led by an effortlessly smooth synth bass that’s mirrored move for move by an electric guitar sample. Closing his album with true showmanship, Denis offers a live recording of his hall of fame cut “Muy Tranquilo”. In fact, the recording captures the first and perhaps only time he’s ever played this song live. It’s improvised by Adam Stehr to the point of becoming a jam, especially on the keys. For Gramatik’s most dedicated fans, it’s surely touching to hear his most famous song live, if only through a recording.

There’s a telling vocal sample in “What She Said”, an operatic tune featuring the Parisian production duo The Geek & Vrv. It says, “any kid can do that in their basement with a sampler, and it just doesn’t seem quite fair.” In the decade since Street Bangerz Vol. 1, the world of sampled music has evolved light years. The music Denis was making ten years ago is no longer revolutionary now. Any kid in their basement can put together big, sexy beats made up of a dozen samples. Indeed, the airwaves are flooded with such instrumentals. But at the same time - and this is what Gramatik drives home on SB5 without hardly trying - no one can do what Gramatik does. He still has the green thumb, the Midas touch, the biggest big city vibe. He’s been to the mountaintop of electronic artistry, and with SB5 he brings it all back home, offering once again that signature spin on beats and electronic music that no one can touch.

FOLLOW Gramatik: Spotify / Soundcloud / Facebook / Twitter / Lowtemp

Fanu - Whack Lack Vol. 3

Creeping up and out of the atmosphere of Gastropodia Prime is perhaps one last slug for the year of 2018, and like all the rest, he's a real slime ball; Fanu is the musical alias of Janne Hatula, a broken-beat trailblazer based out of Helsinki, Finland. Alongside his alternate alias FatGyver, Hatula has spent more than two decades honing his production skillset and musical affluence, and developing a keen understanding for DnB slappers and breakbeat sizzlers. As a DJ, a producer, a mixing/mastering engineer, and an Ableton-certified trainer, he is juggling every role simultaneously with a grace reserved for long-time veterans of the soul-grinding global music industry. Tapped to create the third volume of the Whack Lack series, Hatula chose to don the Fanu moniker for this lightly salted and slightly dusted release.

Straight out of the gate, Fanu flips the script right on it’s head. Combining low fidelity textures with pounding bass lines and massively compressed percussion, Whack Lack Vol. 3 is perhaps the most ferocious battlewax release from the slugs to date. Opening with a harmonized female vocal line, “coil” quickly breaks down into an unexpected burst of gritty wobbles and limiter-busting drum lines. With no rest from start to finish, this first track on the release is a quick hair-splitter that sets a beefy tone for the compositions that follow. Responding in kind to the intensity of the opening track, “lack of talent” is anything but what it’s name implies. Fanu opts for a shuffled rhythm to bring up the energy, with snares that bunch up and split off at asymmetrical intervals in tandem with pulsing sub movement.

“moogsluggery” slithers its way through speaker cones with a dissonant melody and a consistent percussive march. A choice vocal sample sets the mood aptly, proclaiming “This place gives me the creeps”. Shortly thereafter, that familiar Moog warmth busts out through the low-end, making the track smack with an open-palmed, disciplinarian strike. “w95” is a straightforward gunslinger beat, rocking a distorted sub line and a golden-era drum rhythm. As the track progresses, the stereo space gradually fills with manipulated white noise, sparing pads, and the occasional airy arpeggio. The final piece of this Whack Lack puzzle is “ööh”, playfully named for the sound you’ll probably make once you sink down headfirst into the mix. The smoothest track on the record by far, this solid hop-hop composition is propped up by fleeting horn samples and a few sly measures of rap vocal cuts. A blunderbuss sub bass warps into each bar, expanding on refrains and sliding in concert with smokey bursts of minor chords in the upper registers.

Alongside the likes of Maru and Seppa, Fanu will no doubt arrive intp the good graces of those who follow the Whack Lack series. The well of talent that Slug Wife continues to draw from seems to be without end. Their international cabal of associated producers and musicians gives them a particular upper hand when looking to branch out from their standard fare of razor-edged synthesis and gut-busting breakdowns. With 2019 rapidly incoming, Fanu’s battlewax contribution feels a lot like a holiday present from our UK slimeball friends, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Be sure to stay up to date on the revolving door of Slug Wife premiers, as it is resoundingly clear that the total slug invasion has only just begun.

FOLLOW Fanu: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Official

MALAKAI - Milieux

Over a year has passed since the release of MALAKAI’s Saros, an ambitious and exploratory EP that set the standard for future productions from this sonic sage. Since then, he has compulsively honed in on his signature tones and high-fidelity synthesis textures, stirring and broiling his choice ingredients and audio engineering education into a perfect fusion. One result is Milieux, a matured collection of melody-driven compositions that puts MALAKAI squarely on par with the fidelity-driven cornerstone producers of the modern age.

Milieux is remarkable for its richly-colored atmospheres and instrumental dialogue. The balance of clarity in the mix coupled with sufficient textural evolution and tonal layering is paramount to the MALAKAI musical vision, and he enacts said vision with the confidence of an auditory Philippe Petit. His righteous pursuit of pure aural experiences has brought out the best of his abilities to date, and while arrangement has always been a particular strong suit for MALAKAI, his translation and interpretation of musical language has become his most striking characteristic.

The opening track “Appa”, for example, is as aloof and playful as its namesake bison companion; a collaborative piece created with Smigonaut, the composition follows a crescendoed dance of supple warps and counter tones that gradually evolve into a mist of low-frequency oscillations. In a similar display of MALAKAI’s familiar percussive melodies, “Prunes” is a delicious, pitted groove that shuffles between anchoring bass lines and warm plucks that bounce around the upper registers. While his note choice and tonal dialogue are the backbones of his compositional structure, his use of stereo depth is the life that he breathes into his music. “Ubuntu” features an arrangement soaked in reverb and meticulously crafted to make the most of spacial dynamics, resulting in an appropriately airy track that rises and falls with the available frequency space from measure to measure. Bringing an energetic end to the EP is a particularly rusty collaboration with 5AM titled “What’s Matter”, a symphonic, orchestral finale to this four-part auditory adventure. Developing along a minor melody that sings through the speakers like angels at the gates, the track blasts headfirst into an emotive explosion of the largest synthesis featured on the EP, serving as a reminder that all is not always so subtle and spatially humble with MALAKAI’s musical vision.

In conjunction with the exposition of his highest musical watermark to date, MALAKAI is primed to take the stage this coming Saturday at Tipper’s highly anticipated three-night King’s Theatre run. In the short time between now and then, Milieux is available through the venerable Street Ritual on all major music platforms, primed and ready to emulsify in eager eardrums. While you’re not sleeping ‘til Brooklyn, don’t sleep on getting intimate with the musical mechanications of this atmospheric pioneer.

FOLLOW MALAKAI: Soundcloud / Spotify / Facebook / Official