BASS RECOMMENDATIONS SEPTEMBER 2016

Review: After putting out a free compilation last year, Biome and Madam X's Kaizen label attained a sense of legitimacy in 2016 when they started putting out vinyl. After Biome took care of the first 12", Kaizen turn to Brotherhood paring Silas & Snare for this second offering, a killer two-track exercise in modern bass science. Title track "Biometric" demonstrates how well this Leeds duo utilise the sense of space in their productions, all elements crisply and sharply executed and built around that laser-like bassline. Complementing this, "Patience" sees Silas & Snare bring their percussive structures to the fore, all brushed textures shooting in intricate patterns for a fine club tool.

Review: Having enjoyed a little time off from releasing music, David Kennedy returns with a two-tracker on his Pearson Sound imprint. While flipside "Tsunan Sun" is naturally impressive, it's A-side "XLB" that everyone's been talking about. It's not hard to see why. After opening with sustained moody notes and gently pulsing electronics, the track builds into an intoxicating techno thumper, complete with alternately rising and falling synth lines, thunderous sub-bass, and a killer combination of stomping kick-drums, snappy snares, and seemingly relentless drum machine handclaps. Even by his standards, it's something of a colossal beast... and that's saying something.

Review: Felix Manuel enters the Space Race and closes out his fine trilogy of 12" releases for the 2nd Drop label. There have been moments on the two previous records where Manuel is offering some insight into his more contemplative side, but this final installment hones in on the upper register of the Djrum sound. "Space Race Pts 1&2" shows just what an intelligent producer he is, veering wildly up the BPM scale from around 128bpm up to the drum and bass strata into celestial rolling territory. Wonderful stuff! Complementing this, "Sometimes I Share" is a fine way to end the trilogy, remaining in junglist territory and ripping through several different moods within the space of its eight minute duration.

Review: Following in the same vein as recent XL signing Sam Gelliatry, Gila steps up to XL with four barbed slabs of fractured future soul. "Tuff Whispers" is an ethereal, church rumbling 25th century ballad graced with chilling ghosted vocals. "SnoPack" and "Don't Chirp" take us deeper into the crypts with the same minimal elements but much darker, galvanised beats. "Jetski Moment" glides us off into the sunset on a much deeper synth-struck note that's powered by subtle but strong sub engines. Stirring.

Review: DBridge continues his consistently innovative vision with a whole stack of newness. We launch into his cosmos with the truly unique "Too Late", a deliciously slo-mo soul record that almost sounds like it's made to appear like it's on half speed. Pensive, gradual and measured with strings, lilting pianos and his own falsetto, it's total future soul complete with two equally forward-thinking remixes from staple label peers Stray and Spacek. Deeper again we hit "Gone Before Dawn" which steps, cautiously, with much more of a barbed tech aesthetic. We hit "Better Than The Pain", a languid sci-fi Heart Drive special and close with the woozy feels of "Coz My Love Is" a record that sounds like jazz, recorded underwater, somewhere near Detroit with Amp Fiddler. Beautiful.

Review: Having initially risen to prominence making bombastic bass music as Shortstuff, Richard Attley has spent the last few years re-defining his sound via the Mickey Pearce alias. Michael is his debut album, and sees him showcase the breadth and diversity of his production talents. So while there are numerous techno and post-dubstep dancefloor moments dotted throughout (check, in particular, "Polyester", "Quite (Bonus Beats)", "August" and album standout "Old Habits"), these are contrasted by a variety of atmospheric downtempo moments. Some of these are woozy, dreamy and positive, while others look to darker and creepier corners for inspiration.

Review: Forever a label looking to explore the boundaries of forward thinking electronic music, Planet Mu's investigative streak falls upon the post-internet productions of Eastern European collective WWWINGS. A prime example of modern-day music production, WWWINGS is formed of three musicians - Lit Internet, Lit Eyne and Lit Daw - based in Kamchatka Peninsula, Siberia and Ukraine who met using the Russian networking site VK and began dabbling in production together. Through the power of music blogs and online communities the trio started making tracks and getting some recognition, which has ultimately led to the album PHONEIXXX, picked up by Planet Mu. Some twelve tracks deep, this is very much a product of contemporary music-making with razor sharp sound design crafting some brutal club structures which sound like the Night Slugs crew in a particularly rotten mood.

Review: Loose synthed Englishman in New York, Spokes takes Flight once more and delivers his follow-up Coyote EP to last year's "Green Eyes" with his broadest soundscape to date. Three sides to his soul, each one armed with different sense of electronic charm from the fluttering arpeggios and yearning vocal texture of "Failed State" to the plucked off-beat almost oriental wilderness of "Flight" by way of the much more rigid instrumental grime banger "Mercurial", Spokes showcases a widescreen spirit that stamps across all the most exciting electronic contexts.

Review: A brand new artist, label and sound right here as UK-based Compton White settles from his travelling roots and follows his family's long tradition of entertainment in a different way. It's a near-immaculate statement of intent: from the "Smokebelch" level cinematica of "Track 2" and the glitchier Border Community style "Double Diamond" to the staccato grime of "Hounslow", a bullet that's peppered with percussive shrapnel and gutsy bass, Compton's drawn together a sound deftly references while developing a stark character of its own. Cop it and lock both Compton and Sweetboy for the future.

Review: Rushmore is Matthew Thomas, who some of you may know from the East London party House Of Trax and the affiliated label Trax Couture label. The many styles presented as part of the club night are channeled with thrill and cohesion on this debut House of Trax album, ballroom and grime via hip hop; the Teklife crew as much as an influence as '90s hip hop and rap. However, the label state this is an album less concerned with the dancefloor and more one can enjoy in an afterhours situation - hence the title perhaps? Featuring a raft of collaborations with Trax Couture associates, Ours After is a fine debut from House of Trax.