HUMMUCIDE Taps Into Hybridized Jazz on Self-titled EP

It's no secret to our readership that The Rust holds jazz in a universalist light: We consider it to be an “everyman's music”, and a kind of emotive experience that moves beyond physical and cultural boundaries. In the Te Aro district, the heart of musical expression in Wellington, New Zealand, one such group has spent their formative years across dives, venues, and busking blocks. The result is a conscious merging of contemporary rock and minimalist jazz elements into a warm, soulful, and digestible blend; HUMMUCIDE’s roots take their discipline from the compositional and rhythmic prowess of musicians like Aphex Twin and Yussef Kamaal, acknowledging the gradual merging of palattes and flavors in the realm of instrumental music, and simultaneously fleshing out their own organic vision of eclectic songwriting.

Their most recent release, the self-titled EP HUMMUCIDE, is the product of an entire post-adolescence spent reworking and refining a select group of tracks near and dear to the band’s members. Toby Leman, Ben Stewart, and Hugo Olsen-Smith began their group forray into the jazzosphere back in their highschool years, and met their fourth and final member, Lennox Grootjans, as they went on to pursue undergraduate programs in jazz school. After road testing and developing their most honed-in routines, the recorded EP is a stunning testament to their multi-displined learning, and to the spiritual jive that permeates jazz music. Be it the buttery, pocketed sensibilities of “Reacher”, or the lush waltz of chords and percussive shuffles in “8 Mullups”, HUMMUCIDE doesn't just have a knack for crafty riffs and touch-and-go harmonies; they have a clear understanding of the power of swing and syncopation.

The youthful fire of their early years, coupled with a sharpening of their skillsets through dilligent education and experience, rounds out every potential edge to the HUMMUCIDE EP. It displays a love, appreciation, and well-earned proficiency in the realm of jazz theory and genre mutations, betraying a confidence in craftsmanship that makes acts like HUMMUCIDE so immediately alluring. After getting in touch with the shine applied to tracks so many years in the making, we're gladly sitting tight until the next bout of finely tuned HUMMUCIDE adventures.

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CloZee Conscripts Opiuo for “Heya” Remix on Forthcoming Remix Album

CloZee’s career has become a mainstay in the global circuit throughout the latter half of the 2010’s, pursuing a world-influenced composition style and a forward thinking bend towards rhythm and melody in the context of dance music. Her latest album, Neon Jungle, features a wide breadth of directions, tempos, and attitudes, succinctly tied together through CloZee's classic twist on organic percussion, instrumentation, and vibrant synthesis.

After calling upon a variable cast of international producers from across the spectrum, the remix album to Neon Jungle drops next week on October 30th, and the most recent single to surface ahead of the full touchdown is a powerful tease; Australian glitch legend Opiuo paired up with CloZee across the airwaves to conjure up a proper reimagining of the track “Heya”. Featuring his timeless rhythmic shuffles and pocketed sound design, the song is transformed from a jovial jaunt into a pulsing dance-floor escapade. A mixture of raw textures and precision engineering, it's a full-throttle interpretation on CloZee's already storied songwriting, solidifying the excitement in store for this undeniably potent release.

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CloZee · Heya (Opiuo Remix)

A Dialogue With Desert Dwellers Ahead of Beyond Borders 4

Over the course of the last 21 years, Amani Friend and Treavor Moontribe have broadcasted a seemingly unending and constantly evolving mixture of psybient and psychedelic music across the globe. With their own individual roots stretching back well into the 90s, and the duo’s intrepid introduction to one another through the famed Moontribe gatherings in the American desert, their sound is an amalgam of virtually all shapes and sizes of dance-centric electronic production. Given the whirlwind of uncertainty surrounding the long haul of this calendar year, they've adapted to the burgeoning digital formula of streamed events, birthing their Beyond Borders series and serving up choice curations towards a discerning, worldwide audience.

The previous Beyond Borders streams featured a host of eclectic acts and classic pairings within the Desert Dwellers umbrella; Random Rab, Kaya Project, Bluetech, and a cast of other audio and visual artists across three distinct episodes. The third installment was especially exciting, given the inclusion of a conversation with the world-renowned mycologist Paul Stamets. In anticipation of their fourth installation to the Beyond Borders series, The Rust has partnered with Desert Dwellers and the non-profit project Unite to host tomorrow night’s digital festivities. We sat down across the airwaves for a candid conversation with Friend and Moontribe about the streams, their recent remix series, and the Desert Dwellers experience.

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The Rust: Your Beyond Borders series has been a tightly curated experience thus far. What drives your first instinct on the artists you choose for each edition of the stream?

Desert Dwellers (DD): It’s pretty simple, we work with artists we know and whose music we love. We often work with ones we've released on our label or have done remix exchanges with. 

The Rust: The last edition of Beyond Borders featured a conversation with the mycologist Paul Stamets; how did you end up bringing him on board for the stream? Is there a history between you?

DD: Amani has become good friends with Paul over the last few years and we've now released two tracks with his spoken word featured. We have another track with his words done and plan more in the future. 

The Rust: How has your experience been dealing with the overwhelming push towards digital music events?

DD: The main challenge is getting people to tune in. The market became instantly flooded so really we just try to present something that is authentic to who we are and the scene we represent. We also bring forth a pretty diverse musical selection and don't just focus on one main style for our entire shows. 

The Rust: The Breath Re-Imagined series has been extremely extensive from start to finish. Can you talk about your initial vision and motivation for the remix series?

DD: It's a tradition now for us to do several remix albums for every artist album we release. For this series though we've moved into two new music genres so we've brought on over 20 artists we've never worked with before in the slower BPM downtempo house and uptempo tribal organic/progressive house scenes. It was certainly challenging to get a lot of these artists on board since we've never worked with them and we're not an artist well known in their scenes. We are really pleased with the end results though and honored to work with so many incredible musicians. 

The Rust: What are the typical motivators when you sit down to begin each next project in the Desert Dwellers catalog?

DD: We usually have a specific style in mind we're gearing toward with each track, like the Breath album we wanted to create a slower house album that hinted back to the earliest music we made together. Currently we're working on a series of new remixes for mostly Psy Trance artists where we half time their tempo and turn their tracks into Psy Dub tracks. 

The Rust: With such an extensive history under your belts, can you talk about how your own creative processes and inspirations have changed or evolved throughout the course of this career?

DD: Technology plays a huge role in how this process works. As new software is available that changes how things can be done it dictates how we go about creating new music. Mostly we just try to keep learning and getting better at what we do. 

The Rust: Speaking of history under the belt, you're both sure to have seen a variety of anxious or impactful situations to the world of live music. Can you speak about your perspectives on the variety of new norms and experiences throughout the course of 2020's pandemic and ensuing lockdowns?

DD: As a musician right now it's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Even as other industries start to work again ours is literally at the back of the line. We have shifted our focus to our releases, merch and finding any ways possible to bring in a little income. We are fortunate to have built a strong brand over the years, but certainly it's hard to see live gigs returning to any sense of normal anytime soon. On the other side of that we have been very creative during this time. We in no way are slacking off and have made a lot of music this year. When other musicians and labels decided to take a break during this crazy time, we decided to keep pressing forward. Music is our salvation and we feel it's extra important to share music with the world during these times. 

The Rust: What's on the plate for Desert Dwellers' future?

DD: We have a steady release schedule with a third installment of Night Visions, our DD remixes compilation series, remix EPs of some of our earliest uptempo tracks to give them new life and a bunch of remixes we've done for other artists like Astrix & Vini Vici, Captain Hook and Hibernation. Other than that just working on our solo projects (Liquid Bloom, PheuZen, Forever & Ever) and trying to stay sane! 

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Tune in tomorrow on the Desert Dwellers Twitch channel from 6pm EDT until midnight to catch an entire evening of Android Jones alongside Uone, Yuli Fershtat, Ace Ventura, Eat Static, and a special closing set from Desert Dwellers in celebration of the release of Breath Reimagined Vol. 3.

If you’d like to connect further with the Unite platform, head over to their website to get better acquainted with their operation.

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Mirror Maze Partners with VALE to Release "Frustration" Single

VALE’s 2020 calendar year has been full of niche selections and unveilings; from DET’s Ocha remix album to Result’s Bone Bender EP, they’e touched on nearly ever manner of high-fidelity, guttural bass music. They’re next serving comes in the form of the hair-splitting single “Frustration” from the Los Angeles-based producer Mirror Maze; a relative newcomer into the wider system music radar, he’s clearly got the chops and the acumen necessary to go toe to toe with VALE’s usual roster of heavy hitters.

“Frustration” is a sublimated descent into granular synthesis and novel melodies. With a clear focus on spectral movement over contemporary rhythms, it’s a track that meanders at its own malleable pace, intertwining mad dashes of sonic pressure and calm, low-tide recessions into relaxed soundscapes. It fits the VALE formula like a glove, showcasing incredible production prowess with choice, eclectic compositions. It’s just a taste of the Mirror Maze project, but it’s more than enough of a serving to have us positively curious about what else he’s brewing in the laboratory.

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Chalky & Seppa Redefine “In The Pocket” on Strange Changes LP

2019 saw the unveiling of Chalky and Seppa’s combined vision; Bright Spots was an instant hit right out of the gate, showcasing a compositional prowess and dedication to a pure, unadulterated vibe that has been the hallmark of soul-infused instrumentalists since the inextricable rise of jazz and blues music. In the time since that first collaborative album, the boys have been hard at work refining their combined acumen, and the result is a fusion album with few worthy comparisons; Strange Changes personifies what makes truly linear, narrative albums so enticing as a full package, and betrays the veteran confidence of their craft that makes this duo so strikingly vivacious.

Bright Spots was a finely tuned first forray into the ambling possibilities of Chalky and Seppa's combined output, anchored securely by it's groovy songwriting and moving instrumental duets. It was a stunningly well-produced experience, portraying a musical veneer that already felt far from it's infancy. Rather appropriately, Strange Changes carries the character of a project deep into it's maturity, exploring a comfortably fresh variety of dimensions and niche pockets within the realm of soul music.

Across fourteen tracks, Chalky and Seppa lay down a journey into vibrant nooks and technicolor soundscapes, meandering at a pace befitting a tempered stroll through psychedelia. The relationship between each song is the veritable glue of that journey, and a reprised staple that made Bright Spots so immediately palletable. “Bump It” opens the album’s front door with the perfect equilibrium of head-nod and sultry phrasing, gradually tuning the ears until you're trapped in the rhythm's absolute gravity. Once it has you, the only way out of it’s pull is to ride it out, and you'd be hard pressed to find a reason not to. From “Interplanetary Timeshare” to “Diffusion”, it's forward-thinking jazz and loungey instrumental saunters. From “Sizzle Me Timbers” on, the weighty edge of the duo's heavier production backgrounds begins to sublimate across the compositions. Braying harmonies and tactile sound design mingle together for a righteous impact, and that amped-up attitude carries on right up until the album's end. Aptly concluded with “Nap Time”, the very last tones of the release ring out like a somber lullaby, exuding a choice finality befitting of such a loquacious project.

There are many spins on the phrase “it's about the journey, not the destination”, and Strange Changes might be one of the finest and brightest iterations. It’s an ode to the power of painstaking compositions, berift of production shortcuts or hurried arrangements. Consequently, it is an album with the potential for near universal appeal, combining the impact and precision of contemporary engineering with timeless instrumentation. Two years and two full releases later, Chalky and Seppa show no signs of running dry of pure inspiration, and the magnitude of progression from Bright Spots to Strange Changes has our ears squarely fixated on their creative output. With nowhere else to go but up, we've no lack of confidence about the future of this blue-moon tag team, and you'd be just as wise to keep a tab on their every musical move.

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Velour & Joro Dudovski - Dandelion [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Sanctuary Collective has their finger squarely on the global pulse of novel electronic music producers. Their sophomore compilation, Warriors Vol. 2, features a host of burgeoning talent and underground heavy hitters, with each track pushing into a variety of niche territories and sound design palattes. In anticipation of the compilation's release, they've provided The Rust with the opportunity to premiere Velour and Joro Dudovski's collaboration, “Dandelion”.

The Rust Music · Velour & Joro Dudovski - Dandelions [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Separately, Velour and Dudovski's productions are nothing to balk at; both producers excel in the spheres of song writing and high fidelity engineering, with fairly complimentary textures and motifs between them. As a result, “Dandelion” is a texture-laden dash through liquid sound design and fluid drum programming. Supple jazz chords play the role of the interloper, sprinting in and out of stereo space between smatterings of buoyant bass lines and transient downbeats. It's a composition all its own, rearranging and reimagining itself with every passing phrase and refrain, and it’s just a taste of what's in Sanctuary Collective's war chest for Warriors Vol. 2.

FOLLOW Velour: Soundcloud

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Faelow Teams Up With Psychedelic Jelly to Premiere Debut EP

The Boston-based producer Faelow has only recently begun to step out of the lab and into the public eye, with a choice few tracks having surfaced over the course of the last year. After quietly aiming his creative trajectory towards textured, salient sound design and downtempo rhythms, his careful patience has paid off with a particular splash. He’s joined forces with the UK label Psychedelic Jelly to premiere the first true doorway into the Faelow catalog; Floating Underground.

With an obvious touch for psybient compositions and tonal relationships, Floating Underground maintains a smooth gradient of sounds and arrangements throughout each of the four tracks. “Spelunk” and “Cascade” feature a swath of smartly interpolated glitches and frayed layers mingling in and out of stereo focus with each other, carefully wrapping the listening experience in a scintillating outer cushion. That scintillation is perhaps the central tether to the EP, which is notably devoid of any harsh, abrupt, or abrasive movement. Instead, a clear command of subtle rhythms and interpolative songwriting takes center stage, as the first three tracks gradually dissolve into one other through clever refrains and malleable ending phrases. The slow roll towards finality happens with the namesake track of the collection; “Floating Underground” is an ambient dive into the calm, chilled waters of marine soundscapes. Flanged and splayed synthesis wraps around rushing waves of white noise and liquid risers, gradually ebbing and flowing into an effervescent resolution that ties together the core motif of the release.

With just a quaint smattering of tracks available for consumption, Faelow’s output betrays the makings of a lush journey through his own musical hemisphere. The craftsmanship behind Floating Underground has every hallmark of deliberately emotive composition, revealing an already steadily maturing grasp of crystal-clear songwriting. It’s all the more reason why we’re keen to keep a close eye on the future developments of Faelow’s catalog.

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Schmoop Unloads Distorted Grooves in Focal Point EP

Will Russek has spent the majority of his artistic time working from behind a closed curtain; in the six years since his initial musical touchdown via the Wonky Llama Noms EP, he's gradually developed and refined the edges of his personal Schmoop project. The dual release of “Charge/Get Back” in December of 2018 put us in touch with his own production chops and the emerging stylistic direction of his solo material, showcasing a blitz of shredded low end design and dancefloor-ready rhythms. Elaborating on his steadily-advancing compositional direction, the Focal Point EP is a potent combination of palatable grooves and pure firepower.

The driving focus of the Focal Point EP lies somewhere in the midst of broken-beat rhythms and meaty synthesis; the funked-out bass lines ungulate with razor-sharp distortion without obfuscating the tertiary elements of the music. The relationship between lean drum patterns and hyper-saturated low end in “Hard Edges” exemplifies the tight control of the EP's composition, smoothly interpolating sheer mass and clever turnarounds. Balancing out the spectrum of tones and atmospheres, “Outskirts” brings salient drum programming and meandering harmonies to the forefront, toning down the mean-muggedness and amplifying the melody-centric side of of Russek's musical realm. In tandem, the EP's tracks touch on the burgeoning cornerstones of the Schmoop project, and provide the clearest lens yet into it's potential future developments.

Russek's reputation as an undercover gun slinger has preceded him for quite a few years, and the delivery of the succinct, precision package that is the Focal Point EP puts a veritable seal of authenticity on the musings of the grapevine. With a laser-sharp understanding of stereophonics and pocketed grooves, we're undeniably curious as to what comes next, but in the meantime, we’ll be helping ourselves to oversized portions of Focal Point.

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Hullabalo0 - Habaneuro [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Hullabalo0’s catalog is the product of a consistent, dedicated passion within the nebula of low end sound design and groove theory. After nearly a year of audio experiments and a powerful growth in compositional scope, he’s prepped to unveil the Habaneuro LP, with The Rust being given the opportunity to premiere the album’s namesake track.

The Rust Music · Hullabalo0 - Habaneuro [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

“Habaneuro” is exactly as it’s name suggests; brazen, lush, and undeniably spicy. The outer edges of the track begin and end with vibrant, meandering jazz breaks, giving the track a life and soul beyond just rugged synthesis and brackish textures. Sandwiched between the smoothness is a vicious breakdown wielding stereoptic bass and fragmented glitches, merging tones and waveforms into an electronic potpourri of force and firepower. “Habaneuro” is the torch that lights the album’s pyre, and it's more than just a taste of what’s soon to come from the mad machinations of Hullabalo0.

Pre-order the Habaneuro LP here

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Relativity Lounge Thoroughly Breaks the Beat with Defect EP

Based out of Chicago, Illinois, Jack Jamison explores a vast musical terrain through his Relativity Lounge project. With tracks dipping into steady-beat shuffles, broken-beat rhythms, and swelling soundscapes, he’s positioned himself as a jack-of-all-trades producer, but not without distinct characteristics; his catalog exists somewhere in the murky nexus of bass music production and mottled, lo-fi textures. Furthering his descent into that sublimated rabbit hole, he’s channeled his most recent lab experiments through The Great Magnet music label, culminating in the Defect EP.

A marriage of precision synthesis and washy atmospheres, the Defect EP ‘s jaunty grooves make it astoundingly difficult to remain stationary once it’s frequencies start pumping out of some proper speaker cones. The sample play and synth slicing within the arrangement of the tracks is designed for one primary function; cycloidal head nodding. Be it the glitchy lullaby of “Palpate”, or the subtle, melodious meandering in “Axiom”, the overarching theme remains firmly intact across the EP, with a particular focus on pocketed percussion arrangements; the drum programming and tilted swings in the rhythm section of every track drive the entire release with more than enough horsepower to go toe to toe with more traditionally aggressive bass music formats. It’s a distinct package served in a palatable format that couldn’t possibly go down any smoother.

Relativity Lounge has steadily brought himself to a point of compositional swagger, and it pays off tremendously. The release of the Defect EP showcases a clear evolution of his personal sound design and musicianship, and it’s left us both mollified and curious for more. Whatever format his next productions choose to take on, we’re confident that Relativity Lounge will continue to push the envelope in novel, tasteful directions.

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Poztman - Ancestral Data (Rite of Cunning) [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Poztman’s stylized brand of dark, tech-heavy electronic production has earned him a mainstay position in the world of avant-garde and experimental music. In an ever-lasting quest to push his own conceptual boundaries, he’s partnered up with the hybrid label Outtallectuals to present his latest laboratory payload; Rites of Calling. In anticipation of the full EP release, The Rust has been given the opportunity to premiere the track “Ancestral Data (Rite of Cunning)”, loosening the seal on this new suite of compositions.

“Ancestral Data” brings scintillation to the forefront, with mottled, glitched-out textures splaying across the backdrop of the songs runtime. Brackish bass meets scalloped granular synthesis in a mist of sonic intrigue, pulsing like a reverberant steel heartbeat. With percussion provided by Byzantine Sound Machine, It’s a marriage of tribal and industrial influences sauntering around noire sound design and faded, momentary melodies. With a crystal clear focus on atmosphere and immersion, “Ancestral Data” channels the full spectrum of Poztman’s meticulous production skill set.

In tandem with the compositional precision of the EP, Poztman has envisioned and crafted a narrative surrounding a distant future in which these rites of passage bring one closer to their innate identity. Each step of the journey shares the lucidity and jagged psychedelia of the accompanying song, creating a truly multi-faceted experience around Rites of Calling.

The Rust Music · Poztman - Ancestral Data (Rite of Cunning) [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Rite of Cunning:

Alix is somewhat confused by the cryptic advice his ancestors gave him. He doesn’t need to worry, as no one can triumph all challenges equally. The Rites serve as guidance for one’s adult life, to find their Calling. A rite is passed when the Ring blesses the challenger with the according mark. Dao’s attempt at summoning was near to fruitless, though Rey managed seemingly without effort. All received the mark of community nonetheless, as the way of the Rings & the Harvesters is mysterious. Alix feels confident in the next challenge: the Rite of Cunning. He & his friends will have to enter the Birthing Grounds, the place where their first ancestors long dead came to live, out of machines made by the Harvesters. Here they will have to access the ancient codex, a gift from the Harvesters. The village Elder asked them to find out where other hunting grounds may lay, as the village’s supply starts to dwindle. The Codex must contain that knowledge, the Elder is confident. Alix knows the task seems trivial, but Steelings guard the place for unwelcome trespassers. The young ones will have to prove their cunning.

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Voljum - Electric Forces (Smigonaut Remix) [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Voljum’s debut EP cyberglobe put a laser focus on the intersection between jazz, sound design, and intuitive sample play, solidifying his unique production narrative. Looking to merge new perspectives with his high fidelity palette, cyberglobe (Remixes) makes landfall at the end of this week, and The Rust has been tapped to premiere the Smigonaut remix of “Electric Forces”.

The Rust Music · Voljum - Electric Forces (Smigonaut Remix)[EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

With a natural inclination towards all things swing, Smigonaut’s arrangment philosophy slides into the design of “Electric Forces” with ease; Reframed rhythms bring down the energy ceiling of the track without compromising the weight and the mass behind each measure. It’s a careful twist on a playful composition, balancing moody hues and sharp clarity to fully pronounce the song’s attitude. On their own, Voljum and Smigonaut are electrified forces in their own right, so it should come as no surprise that their combined might oozes out of the “Electric Forces” remix.

Pre-order the Bandcamp Remix EP release here

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Polliwobble Fuses Organic Percussion and Fierce Synthesis in Abstertion

The combination of organic instrumentation and digital sound design is a marinade universally applicable to the many facets of electronic music, and Polliwobble has been experimenting with his own distinct production blend for over a decade. The rawness of his synthesis palate and the earthy, reverberant drum lines channel a grit and a weight that is the signature touch of his musicianship. His most recent album, Abstertion, displays a maturation of the Polliwobble production process and an exploration of industrial soundscapes and textures.

Polliwobble · Polliwobble - Abstertion Album

A marriage of smooth-bore melodies, pound-for-pound bass lines, and syncopated, off-kilter drum lines fills out the body of Abstertion, with bold cuts and bolder breakdowns delivering a bone rattle from track to track. The energy remains tense throughout the various compositions, ramping down only for the most subdued moments across the album. The title track, “Abstertion”, balances those polar hues in a fierce dance between bandpass filters, reesey textures, and a broken beat percussive jaunt that is both razor-edged and rhythmically juiced up. It’s a new skeleton beneath the meat of classic neuro bass, with a brackish palate all it’s own. While the majority of the album’s contents feature production-heavy tones and tool sets, the closing track, “Chirality”, is also it’s most standout; a downbeat blend of scalar relationships, subdued modes, and instrumental harmony that rivals the pocketed groove of pure jazz. It’s made all the spicier by a retro synth saunter out of frame at the concluding measures of the track, bursting with dance floor sentimentality, and capping of the album with a true white glove finale.

“Abstertion” is an both a departure from the Polliwobble works of the last several years and a logical progression of his own signature brand. It’s steel-coated, but still warm in the right places, and the heavy focus on organic drum tones gives the album a distinct approach to hybridized bass music. With a clear pattern of multiple releases across relatively short time spans, it makes us all the more curious to hear how the Polliwobble project with continue to shape and develop its musical machinations.

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Pi Wrecks Pulls Back The Curtains On Slivers of Light

The Pi Wrecks discography has featured a tight focus on soul and hip-hop production throughout the course of his career, with a gradual evolution in his songwriting and production palette. His last two major releases, Arrival and From The Heart Pt.1, define a push towards synthesis and elevated sound design, and just two years on, those choice developments have marinated into a full length, twelve track album that spans the breadth of his influences and sonic directions. Slivers of Light is the most ambitious project in his catalog, expounding on the brightest affects of the Pi Wrecks experience.

The attention to sample slicing and splicing has been at the forefront of Pi Wrecks' music from his inception as an artist; mottled snares, vinyl dust, and notative artifacts are mainstay aspects of his productions, but their musical integration and sonic shaping has been continuously refined from release to release. Slivers of Light hones in on the Pi Wrecks blend of topical, emotional beats in a way that feels both narrative and independent. Each track is a full chapter of tangentially related stories told through note choice and delivery, with tracks like “You Create You” and “Snowfall” channeling scalar relationships into stirring mental movements. The attention to detail can't be overlook, and the interlocking weave between each song builds a steady inertia from front to back that makes Slivers of Light a premium take on no-frills, classic electronic hip-hop.

The flux of focus on genres and styles moves at lightning pace in the world of electronic music, and while some choose to follow those developments in real time, others find themselves choosing to develop familiar territory. Pi Wrecks has maintained his brand of sultry cuts and pocketed rhythms throughout the progression of his career, making him a mainstay choice for hip-hop and beats lovers across the spectrum. While we’re busy lounging in the vibrations of Slivers of Light, our minds are already wandering towards the next installment of Pi Wrecks possibilities.

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TALEX Unveils the Juiced Up Transcendence EP

Combining the time tested slicing and cutting of beats music with high fidelity samples and synthesis, TALEX explores a sensual, melodic side to his artistry in his Transendence EP. It's a choice switch-up from his previous offerings of neuro-hop and heavy-handed glitch production, showcasing his evolving depth of musical character.

In contrast with rhythmic focus of Anti-Gravity, Transendence has a strong monopoly on polytones and rich chord phrasing. Channeling moody atmospheres with rock solid tones and saturated sub bass, it’s a vibrant soul record that eschews leaning too far into synthesis and surface-layer effects. The individual tracks themselves feature a number of repetive patches and textures that makes the EP feel like a set of chapters in a succinct novella, using auditory allusion to bridge the gap from song to song. The entire release adds a fresh, soulful spin to the ongoing TALEX collection, diversifying an early discography with a strong assortment of varied takes and styles.

The various topical blends of beats music each have their distinct flavors and hues, and TALEX takes a page from a handful of stylistic directions to craft a full-spectrum EP that shines a light on strong note relationships and harmonic phrasing. In a bit under a year, we've gotten back to back renditions of TALEX's burgeoning aural attitude, and the genre spread across his limited catalog already has us bright eyed and zeroed in on what new mechanations may come over the horizon.

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MALAKAI and Colony Productions Pair Up to Release Axiome

MALAKAI’s musical acumen has been at the forefront of his career from the jump; eschewing sound design and genre trends at every turn, he has instead carved out a warm, cinematic territory amongst his chilled-out contemporaries. His meticulous, emotionally charged tracks soar across stereo space, channeling experiential dives into sonic dreamscapes born in the center of MALAKAI’s creative domain. As each release sees the light of day, the fog of war rolls back on the next footsteps in the MALAKAI story, accessing ever more novel boundaries of music production and arrangement. In partnership with the venerable Colony Productions, he’s finally cracked the seal on 2020’s first suite of MALAKAI machinations: Axiome.

Axiome’s offerings are quintessentially in line with the constant variable across MALAKAI’s discography'; a musical styling that places notation at the helm of the ship, steering compositions through glitchy astroid belts and featherweight musical nebulas. While the territory’s charm remains familiar, Axiome explores a more rugged terrain than previous MALAKAI EP’s, with a grit, width, and movement that builds on the robust characteristics of his music. The egress into that terrain is “Apollo”, an ode to the transient god of music, knowledge, and the sun. Stuttered arpeggios roll across a bed of sub weight, cushioning the melody and filling out the sparser corners of the spectrum. It’s a serenade amongst reverberant tones and mothballed frequencies that round together to form a smooth, contiguous musical torus. The heft in “Apollo” is counterbalanced by the EP’s amicable farewell, “Solace"“; a gentle cascade of legato bends and slides meet harmonious, supple chord phrasing for a novel, starlit dance through synthesis. It’s the characteristic MALAKAI thumbprint, complete with choice granular cuts and a careful serving of liquid low end, and it wraps up the EP with the same multi-hued aesthetic that turns the very first pages of Axiome.

MALAKAI’s catalog continues to simultaneously evolve its production standards while traversing each successive phase of the MALAKAI journey. It’s an even-paced waltz through stereophonic sound, translating an emotional output into a musical frame of reference. The transition from Odd Views to Axiome feels as biological as it is methodical, and while we’re soaking up the fruits of MALAKAI’s most recent labor, we can’t help but keep our eyes and ears aimed squarely at his future.

Axiome is currently available for purchase on Bandcamp, and will become available for stream and download from all other major platforms on the 17th of July. You can pre-save the release on Spotify here.

FOLLOW MALAKAI: Soundcloud / Spotify / Bandcamp / Website

Psychic Research Presents Debut Compilation, All Proceeds Go To NAACP

There's no question about the sonic legacy surrounding Nashville, Tennessee; folk, bluegrass, country, jazz, and American rock all have a slice of Nashville's lauded music history, and it continues to maintain its status as a hub for musical talent and innovation to this day. Adding to the dynamic melting pot, Psychic Research is a new artist collective headed by some of Tennessee's preminent taste makers in electronic music. With an initial roster including Waterchild, The Space Cadet, Nimbo, and Alex Fun, they're well positioned to infuse a new source of sonic oddities into the nation's undercurrent of novel electronic productions. For their debut collective release, they've conscripted the talents of an additional six producers to design and curate the 13 track compilation album Reality Test Vol. 1, and they've slated every cent earned by the album to be donated to the NAACP in perpetuity.

Reality Test Vol. 1 is the first foray into the potential of Psychic Research's vision, and it leaves an impactful first impression. The compilation's tendrils sink into a wide berth of psybient and succulent territories, and each individual producer's touch feels lockstep with the aqueous atmosphere that surrounds the album. Tracks like Void and The Space Cade’s “STRANGE FRIENDS” and Amalgamy’s opening tune “Elipsism” feel iridescent in contrast with Shapesift’s undulant journey in “Resurgance”, but all three feel equally amorphous and unconstrained by theory conventions. The gradual evolution of tension across the compilation facilities a listening experience that demands to be aired out in its entirety, and it underscores an attention to detail that extends beyond just tertiary elements in musical releases. There's no doubt that Reality Test Vol. 1 exhibits the eccentricity and focus of the roundtable knights behind the face of Psychic Research.

2020’s tumultuous existential landscape has left an indellible impact on the American cultural consciousness, and Psychic Research's decision to entrust the indefinite earnings of their initial release to the NAACP is a spot on show of solidarity from and within the alternative cultural fabric of America's movers and shakers. Be it for a good cause, or for the quest of new sounds and musical adventures, Research Vol. 1 stands out as a necessary acquisition amongst this year’s growing troves of new, cutting-edge electronic music.

FOLLOW Psychic Research:

/ Bandcamp / Soundcloud

Shamanic Technology & Dusko - What Happened (Sixis Remix) [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

In the wake of Shamanic Technology and Dusko's collaborative album Artifact, the pair have enlisted the creative output of twenty top flight producers to reimagine and redesign the musical collection. With the full remix album touching down next week, The Rust is proud to premiere the undulant Sixis remix of “What Happened”.

The Rust Music · Shamanic Technology & Dusko - What Happened (Sixis Remix) [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Wielding ferocious sub weight and precision engineering, Sixis reinterprets and reinvigorates “What Happened”, swapping out shuffled grooves and pronounced melodies in favor of pulsating basslines and hypertextural synthesis. The flair and stormy veneer of the original track remains pronounced, but undergoes a potent fusion with direct, high-velocity percussion. It's a bass junkie's paradise; sharp downbeats sling low end across the spectrum with terrific speed, and each rhythmic impact slams your chest like a one-inch punch. It's a furious take on an already bold track, and a vicious reminder of the intense, rib-shaking experience that is the Sixis project.

Pre-save the Bandcamp album release here

Pre-save the Spotify album release here

FOLLOW Sixis: SoundCloud / Spotify / Bandcamp

FOLLOW Shamanic Technology: SoundCloud / Spotify / Bandcamp

FOLLOW Dusko: SoundCloud / Spotify / Bandcamp

Jade Cicada and Tenorless Release Full Featherbed Set (Video + Interview)

With Covid-19 making its way across the planet, the global societal response and shutdown has been unprecedented and massive by any comparison. In the United States, the last two months have seen a mottled patchwork of stay-at-home regulations and social distancing enforcement across the nation, and the landscape of concert production is in a particular state of freefall. Amidst tour, event, and festival cancellations and postponements from all sides of the music industry stretching into the indefinite future, musicians, DJ’s, VJ’s, and other content creators have been forced into an altered paradigm. With so much of the population mandated to stay at home, and with no avenues for full-scale live concerts to go on in the foreseeable future, the only consistently viable way to access fans, friends, and social music experiences has been through the internet. Thankfully, gamers, bloggers, knowledge enthusiasts, and general content streamers have been utilizing platforms like Twitch, Discord, VRChat and YouTube to reach their audience for the better part of the last 15 years, working out the kinks on internet tech that we now rely on to stay in musical motion. The switch from the stage to the stream was only momentarily jarring for the electronic music community at large, with some movers and shakers having already been developing/operating their own stream series’ and services for a number of years (we’re looking at you, LostInSound). 

However, as the inevitable saturation of the medium takes hold for appreciators and creators of electronic music alike, the question of fiscal security and the material value of unreleased music becomes the center of the conversation. Donations have been somewhat of a financial bedrock for artists who engage through streaming, but it’s long term efficacy as a purely donation-based system is unquestionably doubtful. Some have been experimenting with pay-per-view systems, and others have been rolling out larger inclusive digital packages of recorded concerts and memorabilia. Regardless of the methodology, the underlying want to strike a survivable balance between instant, unfettered global reach and financial sustainment is no less than pervasive.

As the wider community has rallied around this new format of music appreciation, immersion, and consumption, The Rust Music began the Featherbed Sessions in order to provide a direct platform for content creators to engage with fans old and new. Nearly two weeks ago, we teamed up with Jade Cicada and Tenorless to craft a meticulous, explorative musical and visual experience. Enlisting the additional firepower of Detox Unit and Theron Prey, Resonant Language and DRO1D, Smigonaut and The Void, Base2 and Steven Haman, and Schmoop and Cullen Hassel, each pairing crafted a curated DJ set in line with a specific theme. From Jade’s cinematic expedition, to Smigonaut’s jazzified jaunt, to Base2’s classic downbeat throwback set, the entire six hour experience made for an emulsified journey into the inspirations and deep selections of a team of top calibre music and visual producers.

Their combined creative energies were aimed at raising funds for Direct Relief, a non-profit organization putting fresh Personal Protective Equipment into action across hospitals and emergency rooms in the United States. In the aftermath of the evening, Featherbed Sessions VI raised nearly $8,000 in donations, reaching the screens of over 21,000 people across the globe. While those numbers are cause to celebrate in their own right, the pot gets even sweeter; Jade Cicada and Tenorless have decided to release their full hour set in perpetuity, and have gone on the record discussing a bit of the process behind developing their curated Featherbed installation. 

You can find the set broken down track by track in this Spotify Playlist

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Jade Cicada

The Rust: What was the process for deciding the musical direction of the evening? Did you know who you'd want off the bat?

 Jade Cicada: I consider everyone on this lineup to be some of my best friends. I talk to pretty much all of them every day, so they were obviously the first people who came to mind. I also have a really small private discord group with producer homies, and I asked all of them to see who was down. I really trust their abilities and their tastes, and we all discussed directions for each other’s sets together.

 The Rust: Why choose to go with DJ sets? 

 Jade Cicada: With so many people in isolation, I basically wanted to curate a really diverse evening with tons of new artists for listeners to latch onto. I hoped that this would expand the crowd’s horizons beyond just bass music. That’s why we included full tracklists and Spotify playlists, in the hopes that people would go out and support these artists with a stream, a follow, a purchase, etc. Which sort of segues into the state of the music industry right now. The music industry has been constantly shafting artists over time. Gigs became the musician’s main source of income, and the best way to present new material to people. Streams tend to further de-value original content because it’s free for everyone who doesn’t feel like donating. I feel that if everyone is constantly doing streams, relying on donations, and playing loads of unreleased original material, it runs the risk of further devaluing the art that they put so much time and effort into.

 The Rust: Can you speak about some of the inspirations behind your ambient performance?

 Jade Cicada: My first true musical love was classical music, and that’s always really stuck with me. So as soon as I started to discover these cinematic ambient type producers, I was in awe. Combining awesome sound design, fantastic sound staging and imagery, felt piano, strings, and beautiful chord progressions and melodies really hits me emotionally more than any other genre of music I’ve ever heard. I try to incorporate a lot of these elements into my own music, and you might notice I tend to begin and end a lot of my original sets in this manner. I never get the chance to do a purely harmony and melody driven set, mainly because I simply don’t have an hour to fill with original cinematic ambient tunes yet. All the music that I played has touched me deeply and inspired me in one way or another, and I hoped it would do the same for the listeners in this time of uncertainty.

 The Rust: Can you talk about the charity you selected to receive the donated funds from the event?

 Jade Cicada: Pretty much all you hear about during this whole situation is how incredibly unprepared our government was for this kind of event. We wanted to find a way to support the medical community who desperately needs the PPE to continue to save lives. We also took a vote in The Swarm to see what charity fans would be most willing to support, and the fans decided PPE for medical professionals. That was my first choice as well.

 The Rust: What is the benefit of curating experiences for live streams versus curating experiences for concerts?

 Jade Cicada: Well, typically when I’m curating a concert there’s a lot more people involved, and a lot of the work gets passed onto other people. I basically discuss with my manager who I’d like to have out for the event, and he’ll make all the moves contacting those artists’ agents. With this live stream, it was pretty much me and Joe (Tenorless) overseeing everyone, and trying to manage artists is kind of a nightmare (big ups to all the managers out there dealing with us lol). Making sure 12 different people are all on schedule and have everything finished on time is super stressful. I much prefer curating live concerts because all I need to do is look out for myself and focus on my own set, and let my manager handle the rest. There are some nice things about live streams though. I really enjoyed being able to sit down and watch everyone’s sets. I’m never able to do that at curated concerts for one reason or another. It was also really touching to see people’s reactions in chat. It’s one thing to see people jumping around in the crowd having a good time from a distance, it’s another to see people’s thoughts in real time. It was really quite beautiful to experience everyone’s stream of consciousness as the night progressed, and see how happy and thankful everyone was. It was also hilarious to see people complaining during music that made them uncomfortable, and the confusion when my set had hardly any beats.

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Tenorless

 The Rust: How often do you get to handle the musical material before the performance itself?

Tenorless: Not often. There’s been a few performances where i get to sit down with the musician beforehand and plan things out, but the majority of the time i'm just as clueless as the audience as to what song comes next.

The Rust: What kinds of choices do you make when creating a visual experience in the studio versus on the stage?

Tenorless: On stage I have to strategize and make split second decisions on what content to drop when during a performance. With this set I had about a week, so I was able to make those same decisions over a much longer timeframe and put more intention into the final product. I think there’s a sort of magic to live performance in general that can’t be replaced, but by making this at home I had time to edit footage like a movie and match the cinematic soundtrack Skyler put together.

The Rust: How do you source your non-original material? 

Tenorless: I’ve recently started incorporating art from the public domain in my work, so much high quality, freely remixable content can be found by exploring online art archives. For example, in this set I used plant illustrations from an old japanese science journal, reference tables from a 1700’s encyclopedia called cyclopædia, and stock footage of natural landscapes to blend with digital textures. Other than this, the set was 100% original content. 

The Rust: Can you talk about the charity you selected to receive the donated funds from the event?

Tenorless: PPE for medical staff is a need that is constantly increasing as this crisis continues, and our country's hospitals are getting hit especially hard. So many medical staff across the nation are on the frontline every day fighting the pandemic, and without proper protective equipment they are forced to put themselves at even greater risk. Direct Relief’s response to COVID-19 has been incredibly impressive, by tackling medical supply chain issues through GIS maps and demographic research they ensure the protective gear they provide gets sent to areas that are expected to need it most. The more well-thought out a non-profit’s strategy is, the more efficiently they use their donations to reach their goals, so this played a big factor in choosing Direct Relief.

The Rust: What is the benefit of curating experiences for live streams versus curating experiences for concerts?

Tenorless: When making visuals for concerts the format is fairly set in stone, the musician plays an hour of music on stage, i provide an hour of visuals behind them. If we are playing a venue we follow the same tried and true system of experiencing live performance that has been around since the early days of theater. Though this system works rather well, it naturally begins to metamorphose once the factor of physical space is removed. There isn’t currently a standard format for live streaming music, which can lead to many unique outcomes: last month I went to an incredible concert in minecraft, this weekend i'm watching friends play a dome show in VRChat. I think what excites me most about the internet at the moment are the artists who are taking this opportunity of social distancing to push the boundaries of how audiovisual art is traditionally consumed.

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 As the progression of the world’s state of lockdown remains in flux, there’s no clear consensus on when we will be able to gather in our traditional massives, burns, clubs, and parties. The question of survival for musicians, visual producers, and their innumerable supporting crews is fresh on our minds and in our conversations, but the resilience of the community at large has proved to be undeniably potent. As the acclimation to a future even more deeply rooted in digital mediums and instant access takes hold, the live music experience is undergoing a 21st-century revolution, and acts like Jade Cicada and Tenorless are taking the opportunity to redefine their approach to delivering their creative visions to the hearts, minds, eyes, and ears of their respective fans and friends. While we’re all still gathering our bearings in this period of uncertainty, our ability to navigate this new paradigm will hopefully strengthen day by day, bringing on new and exciting experiences in the wake of new and turbulent challenges. 

FOLLOW Jade Cicada: Bandcamp / Spotify / Facebook

FOLLOW Tenorless: Facebook / Instagram

Ultrasloth Unveils Debut Megatherium EP

Individually, Duffrey, bioLuMigen, and kLLsMTH have their musical toes dipped in dozens of ponds, flinging flighty, glitchy tunes and brolic beatdowns aplenty from their respective projects. Together, they’re the production triumvirate Ultrasloth, churning out a hybrid, sludge-infused brand of bass music primed for speaker cones of every variety. The last 3 years have seen a smattering of UltraSloth headlining performances across the US, Australia, and New Zealand, putting the spotlight on their charismatic group dynamic and the combined impact of their musical acumen. After a raucous performance featured on The Rust’s Featherbed Session last night, they’ve unveiled their debut collection of swamp-certified original tracks; the Megatherium EP. 

Ultrasloth’s brand of gunslinging, hip-hop inspired bass music is bereft of frills, oversaturated elements, or foreboding atmospheres. The functional, slapstick, bare bones veneer channels bass weight with a terrific velocity, sending dancefloors into frenzies with each pulse of unjulent synthesis. Right off the bat, “Dingo Bingo” sets the tone for a four-track jaunt through battlewax beats and haptic rhythms. Fat stabs of mottled bass squeezes through the stereo space, adorned in nothing more than vinyl cuts and off kilter percussion. That formula holds up across the rest of the EP, with each tune brandishing a simplicity in its palette and a complexity in its arrangement. Juxtaposing the immediate force of EP’s opener, “Wobble Donkey” begins with the mot vivacious moments of the record, bringing the arrangement into jazzadelic territories before tubular synthesis shreds through the composition, complete with mouth slurps, bandpass filters, and a quick “fuck it” vocal sample to keep things jovial. That kind of whimsy is one secret to the sauce of Ultrasloth’s recipe; never taking things too seriously.

This trio of criminally talented producers has been a mainstay across stages from the moment the Ultrasloth project first took flight. All along the way, each performance has outpaced the last, with each member’s unique sphere of talents and creative output mingled together to create an incredibly dancefloor experience. Be it at Solasta in the Nantahala National Forest, on the edge of the Richmond Bay for Coalesce, or live streamed directly into your living room, Ultrasloth’s laser powered music is a vibrant tango with steadfast, boisterous beats. If the Megatherium EP has you craving even more sumptuous offerings of left-field electronic machinations, make sure to keep up with the individual artists behind the Ultrasloth project, and keep both ears aimed at their musical horizons.

FOLLOW Ultrasloth: Bandcamp / Facebook / Soundcloud