Three years in the making, Bulgarian drum and bass hurricane JoannaSyza finally releases her sophomore album titled Surrender last Friday, 8 February as a Beatport exclusive under OthercideRecords after a long battle with her health. Within a week, the album has shot to the 4th spot on the Beatport DnB Top 100, joining a number of her singles from the album on the chart. The album features collaborations with the likes of AKOV, Redpill and Mizo, just to name a few. BBC1 Radio has already featured three songs from the album, while other tracks have received high praise from Bassrush, as well as Youtube channel DistrictBass, and is already featured in a number of top Bass music playlists across platforms. Filling listeners ears with the dark and emotional journey the album takes inspired by the grisly journey of this incredible talent and the dark turn her life took stemming from Neurological Lyme Disease. Listeners can look forward to ‘Surrender’’s extended world-wide platform release on 22 February as well as a limited run of CDs.
Producer-group Kachina have announced the release of their new EP, ‘Eyes Of March’, which will be out on December 13th via Affectionate Grooves and NexGen Music, and have just dropped a premiere of the title-track (available everywhere November 15th), to give us a little taste of the exciting sounds they’ll be sharing with the world.
This release will be a bittersweet one for the UK-based musicians, who have been indispensable to the UK garage scene over the years, as one of the members of the group, Zurcon, lost his battle with cancer in April of this year. The two remaining members, Rob Sparx and Wigz, continue to honour Zurcon’s contribution to Kachina, the UK garage music scene as a whole and, more specifically, their upcoming ‘Eyes If March’ EP, of which he was an integral part.
The new track perfectly pays tribute to the history of Tuff Jam-era UK garage sounds while oozing contemporary flair. A tune that’ll make you feel like you’re catching the sun with a drink in your hand, even on the coldest of winter days.
Listen to the premiere of Kachina’s brand new track ‘Eyes Of March’, below.
Excision’s brand new release, Apex, was supposed to be released at midnight, but eager fans noticed that the album was made live on Spotify hours before the scheduled release. No announcement, no press release, no social media post; it was simply secretly made live for the true fans to appreciate. The 14-track album Apex, features collaborations with Sullivan King, Illenium, Shallows, DionTimmer, Akylla, Messinian and SpaceLaces. The album features some of Excision’s most hard hitting tracks to date including the already popular ‘Gold‘ ft Illenium. This might just be Excision’s best work to date…
Listen to the legend of bass, dubstep and low frequencies’ new album, Apex, below:
Get ready to blow your speakers, as Impossible Records and Warpaint Records decided to release a collaborative 20-track adrenaline filled compilation entitled Blood Lines Vol II.
Blood Lines Vol Iblew us away already, and this brand new mix is filled with bigger songs and lower frequencies. Including tracks from artists like Madhatter!, KJ Sawka, Stratus and Noya, this compilation will have fans of dubstep and bass fans rejoice the world all over.
Turn those speakers up and get ready to apologize to the neighbours, listen to Blood Lines Vol II here:
Warpaint Records is a multi-genre defying record label that strives to combine electronic music and beyond, art, and writing into one linear medium, thus breathing life into a scene overwhelmed by an abundant amount of monotonous saturation and give the next generation of artists a chance to stand up as one voice for the people. Impossible Records bring together all genres and BPM’s electronic music has to offer to strive and take the impossible and turn it into reality. Founded by World Renownded electronic drummer extraordinaire and human drum machine, KJ Sawka of supergroups Destroid and Pendulum.
Atlanta based silent duo, ATLiens, are back with a dark and raw new single; ‘Exile’. Not much is known about the masked producers, but one thing is for certain, this time round they’re not afraid of getting dirty.
‘Exile’ is dramatic, gritty and in your face. The bass is destructive and hard hitting in nature. This track will push your speakers to the limits as the robotic noises fill the air around you.
‘Exile’ marks the next phase of ATLiens global takeover, so we are very excited to see what will come next.
20-year old Russian producer, Trinergy, released his latest EP Ultimate recently and it is bound to push your speakers’ bass to the limits. Encapsulating everything modern dubstep should be, this emerging artist from Never Say Die Records demands your attention from beginning until end, never letting the intensity die down. Hard hitting, unapologetic and pushing the boundaries of bass music, it is clear that the up and comer derives a lot of influence from the likes of Skrillex and Zomboy. The two standout tracks on this 5-track offering, are definitely ‘Carnage’, produced alongside Evilwave, and ‘Bring The Noise’. Although the songs can sound somewhat similar, don’t let that fool you into thinking this record is monotonous, as it’s everything but.
Apparently, k?d has been trying to remix Flume’s “Insane” for about two years now, but it’s never sounded exactly as he wanted. K?d writes, “i’ve remixed this track like 378569 times and never was happy with either version. over two years old.”
Born and raised in a small suburban town in Connecticut Lux Groove always had a passion for music at a very young age. During his early teenage years he got his first set of turntables and started to teach himself to DJ, heavily influenced by DJ’s such as Jazzy Jeff, A-trak, Craze, and Qbert he quickly become engulfed in the turntablism scene, doing showcase performances and entering local DJ battles as well as the DMC’s.
Lux Groove began to experiment with other genres of music which led him into house music and wanted to be more than just a DJ. Very influenced by Justin Martin and other Dirtybird Record members Lux Groove began to start producing and after a short period of time had his first EP called “From The Back” which is now signed to Worthy’s Anabatic record label. Releasing with record labels such as Dirtybird, This Ain’t Bristol, Perfect Driver, and Hot N HeavyRecordings has proven that his dedication and success will continue. Lux Groove has performed along side and shared the stage with Kill Frenzy, Worthy, Mark Starr, Daniel Dubb and Sebastien Leger and many more. Lux Groove is sure to continue to produce bass driven forward thinking house music and also his live performances are sure to rock any crowd, putting to use his heavy turntablism background mixed in with his style of bass house music.
Whit this being said, we can expect to hear much more coming from Lux Groove. We listen to his newest EP release ‘Setup‘ and had to contact the upcoming DJ and producer for an interview:
Hi there, how are you and what are you up to today? I am doing great, currently at my home in Connecticut just working on some music.
To those not familiar with you, how would you describe your sound? I would best describe it as Hip Hop influenced Bass House music
Let’s give a listen Lux Groove’s Original Mix ‘Setup’ from his new EP named ‘Setup‘ What are the 5 albums and artists that have influenced you the most? DJ Shadow – Endtroducing Justin Martin – Ghettos and Gardens Dillinja – Cybotron Nas – Illmatic El-P – Fantastic Damage
What other artists do you really like at the moment and why? I really like Classmatic, the way he blends influences from Hip Hop into house music is dope. Also lately I have been into Frits Wentink for the same reasons.
What are some of the key pieces of gear you use to write your tracks in the studio? Or do you prefer to use software and plug ins? Right now I am using all software, just a mac book pro and a midi controller. I like to be able to work when I am traveling.
Has your arsenal of equipment changed much since you first started? Yes, I started collecting analog gear over the past few years and found the more gear that I got, the less music I was making. I work best with limitations and it took me a long time to realize that. So I sold all my gear and currently have a very minimal setup.
Do you enjoy playing to an audience or working in the studio? Honestly I enjoy both, it can be a lot of work sometimes in the studio, coming up with ideas but I have also learned to enjoy that process. When I play out its just all fun.
Here is another tune (Mark Starr Remix) of Lux Groove’s new EP
If we gave you the budget to put a line-up together for a mini fest, who would you book and where would you play? Hmm that’s a good question..Justin Martin, DJ Shadow, A-trak, Qbert, Madlib and it wouldn’t matter where they played!
If you weren’t a musician what would you be? An extremely lazy person haha
Do you have any information regarding upcoming releases, projects, DJ mixes or collaborations in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about? A bunch of new music is in the works but nothing is ready to go out at the moment, that includes collab’s will Mark Starr.
Dervisis releases new single titled ‘Sync.’ Previously releasing music under the name of Kid Flicks from 2010-2017, he has now traded this in for his given name, seizing each moment and demanding the future. The song was premiered by tastemaker publication CLASH Mag. “During his time as Kid Flicks, Dervisis performed at festivals such as Glimps (2015) in Belgium alongside Bill Ryder-Jones and Hiele, Fengaros (2017) in Cyprus alongside Fantastic Negrito, Bombino and Xylouris White, Eurosonic (2017) in the Netherlands alongside Dua Lipa and Alma. Dervisis has also had the privilege of sharing the stage with eclectic artists Slow Magic, Craft Spells and A Hawk and a Hacksaw, as well as receiving substantial support from prolific publications such as Clash Magazine, The 405, DIY Mag, Impose Magazine and CBC Arts.” Nikolaos Dervisis is an experimental artist who uses an array of techniques to transform his sound and “has been dubbed a “musical chameleon”, introducing the use of darbuka pattern (an Arabic percussive instrument common among Balkan and Middle Eastern music) inspired beats amidst lush electronics and soulful vocals. Having done remixes for producers such as Tendts and Liphemra (aka Phem), released two homemade LPs released by Greek label Inner Ear Records as well as a third and final self-titled album on Klik Records in 2016 respectively.”
The producer hails from Athens, Greece, Nikolaos Dervisis and grew up on an array of musical influences, “playing his first gig at an anti-war anarchist festival before diving into the experimental musical realm. After performing together with a few bands in his early years, Dervisis soon realized where his true calling was. After receiving a BA in Graphic Design, he then started to experiment between his hometown of Athens and whilst staying in London, by building up an archive of unheard material, and soon after, earned himself a Master of Music degree at Goldsmith, University of London. Influenced by a multitude of different genres and emotions from the electronic throbs of Burial to the soulful stirs of Stevie Wonder, from the stylings of Turkish percussionist Okay Temiz, right down to the experimental quirks of Sun City Girls.”
Characterizing himself as a ‘musical nomad’, Dervisis produces music with his laptop in different places where he feels most comfortable and can be stylistically compared to Nicolas Jaar,Grimes or Mica Levi, “with his sample heavy, vocal processed, electronic-pop antics. Inspired by global pop culture and Eastern Mediterranean influences in a world where both can co-exist, Dervisis has embraced this notion further by pursuing his own brand of ‘Eastern Post-Pop’ music.”
Inspired future-bass artist DRUGZZ releases his latest single titled ‘I Didn’t Mean To Do’ via Super Serious, the single has been mastered by Joe LaPorta of Sterling Sound Studio (David Bowie, Imagine Dragons, Grizzly Bear, The WEEKND, Armin Van Buuren, X Ambassadors, Foofighters, The Killers) and produced by Robbie Gardunio (Siglia, Bohnes, Eyho). The upcoming star has also worked with Spinnin Deep’s De Hofnar and Ziggy Alberts (TWO LANES), with his previous single ‘Someone Other Than Me’ has reached over 50 thousand views on YouTube alone.
Sam Alan, whose stage name is Drugzz is a vintage drum collector and sites famous artists Blink-182, The Chemical Brothers, Lupe Fiasco, Copeland, The National, Death Cab for Cutie as his inspiration, DRUGZZ’ sound has been likened as a blend between Louis The Child and Simple Plan.
DRUGZZ’ latest single ‘I Didn’t Mean To Do’“swims in luminosity; throbbing basslines, solid percussive bliss and Sam’s energetic yet ferocious vocal-build sets the tone. Smoothly sung passages slowly turn to powerful, unforgiving screams, creating an anthemic aura encompassing on the track’s nostalgic nature. Powerful, swaying synthesizers bleed onto an atmospheric ambient section before erupting into his unique brand of experimental dancefloor antics.”
Speaking on the latest single, DRUGZZ “This song was inspired by an instance in high school – Cheers to growing up, and growing up again.”
