What’s good again crew!
Begrim here, finally found some time to enter another post on the ever-so-massive Bassweight Society.
In this installment, we’ll be looking at the (audio) visual spectrum of music and it’s varied facets. If you are anything like me, you most likely have a wide range of music genres in your library that you constantly shuffle through. Spanning from the recent to the old, electronic and non-electronic, this music accumulation stands as our personal ‘continuum’ so-to-say, a spectrum we use depending on our moods, feelings and listening needs. Especially with the growth of electronic music, there can be a tendncy to ascribe a single, over-specific label to track style’s (post-dub-trap-deep…), much like what happens with the naming of colors (Robin’s Egg Sea Razzle). This often leads to convoluted branding that can inadvertently cause bias in listeners and pigeonhole producers to a specific style. However, much like a graph of the visual spectrum, music is all connected by a single factor with varying amounts of energy, rhythms, and other ingredients combined. With bass as the connecting factor of our “audiovisual” spectrum, we’ll be exploring three labels that all share this common center yet present their music in varying forms. Beginning with some higher-energy “red/yellow” grime from Earth616, we’ll move into Slime Recordings’ mellower “blue/green” dubstep/garage/deep house, and end on something…Diffrnt… in the “purple/pink” wavelengths.
Hope you enjoy the rainbow.
Earth616
Starting off is Earth616, a grime label run by the notable Logan Sama. With no “official” webpage, Soundcloud, or Facebook, the mysterious monicker puts out primarily vinyl presses with a few digital releases scattered here and there. Featuring released by grim legends such as Maniac, DJ Q, Faze, Miyake and Wiley, Earth616 brings some of the best grime instrumentals there are to offer.
Preditah – Gears of Grime 12″
Already receiving it’s own separate digital release in December, Earth616 recently distributed wax-pressings of this beaut. Preditah abosultely kills it on this EP, showing the range of sound grime still has to offer. Starting off with classic synth-heavy tracks ‘Circles VIP’, ‘Nosy Parker VIP’, Preditah then rolls out his take on trap, ‘Evil Twin’. He follows with two super bass-heavy hitters, ‘Gully (instrumental)’ and ‘Rubicon’. This cycle repeats itself with ‘Skank (Dub)’ and ‘Sword’, and Preditah finishes up with what he calls a “dark garage” track, ‘The Beat Skipped’. Fusing classic slapping drumwork with deep, pulsating lows, Preditah expands upon the conventional grime sound and presents a multi-genre approach to a music style he knows and loves. Definitely keep an eye out for his future releases, as well as the other artists on Earth616.
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Preditah:
Earth616:
Slime Recordings
Moving into the mid-spectrum sounds, Slime Recordings puts out a wide array of different styles of 12X-14Xbpm music. Working on getting their 56th release under their belt, Slime has featured EP’s by artists such as Submerse, Resketch, Mr Beeb, Eyelove and a forthcoming by Aleks Zen.
BSN Posse – Love History EP
After their debut on Slime Recordings, “Songs from the Sea EP”, BSN Posse recently released “Love History EP” which features their original track and six remixes. Soothing vocals glide over melodic synths, giving this song a relaxing feel that still has driving energy. Each remix adds a new element to Love History, morphing it into a shuffling garage track, a low-end bass banger, a jumpy trap rhythm, and a classic deep house anthem. While any of these songs could be featured in their own single, Slime’s release of this EP helps illuminate the range of possibilities this one song has to offer. More importantly, it demonstrates that a “bass centered core” will hold prevalent no matter what direction a producers decides to take. Take a moment out of your day to have some Slime time.
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BONUS: V/A – Basswave 2
Slime’s 2012 compilation album does not disappoint, covering so many areas of music it’s unreal.
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FACEBOOK || SOUNDCLOUD || WEBSITE
Diffrent Music
Recognized by their pink Giraffe logo, Diffrent Music describes themselves as “focusing on pushing the whole movement of stripped back head-nodding drum tracks and big deep monstrous bass.” Label co-founders Hunchbak and Dexta stated that, “We believe that there’s a lot of soul-less D&B music out there due to labels having to put out music that ‘HAS’ to sell. Ultimately we’re about making music fun, trying new things & putting out music that we truly love!” This point of view comes across clearly in their releases, which range from amazing low-roller drum & bass tracks to genre-bridging 170-ish tracks they categorize as “giraffestep”. With productions by artists such as Fredric Robinson, Arkaik and Dan Marashall as well as future releases by Fearful, Fable & Beezy, and Shaded, Diffrent is definitely a label to keep an eye on in this coming year.
Fathom Audio – Promises/Ridges
Comprised of two DJ’s, Billion and Fybe, and two MC’s, Sense and Codebreaker, Fathom Audio’s single shows both the darker and lighter sides of Diffrent. “Promises” starts out with fluttering trebles and stripped-back percussion, but quickly adds a resonant, forceful bassline that drives the rest of this lurking track. Contrastingly, “Ridges” starts out with a pulling, ethereal synth and muffled female vocals and quickly transitions into a full-fledged inspiration, featuring melodic harp sweeps and percussion reminiscent of early Rockwell. Both songs are prime example of the possibilities that exist in the 170bpm realm and will have you moving along, whether it be nodding to the broody lows or swaying to the ethereal highs. Something Diffrent, for sure.
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BONUS: Cursa & Futurist – Clart [Forthcoming]
Featured on Diffrent’s monthly Giraffecast, this upcoming release from Cursa & Futurist is absolutely mind-blowing. Deep, resounding bass kicks and eerie clicks haunt this track, giving it a driving yet freeform sound. Upon completion of the B-side, this release from Diffrent will be shaking subs around the world.
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FACEBOOK || SOUNDCLOUD || WEBSITE
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Well, thanks again for letting me show you the spectrum of sound out there. Stay bass centered my friends.
-Begrim
Bassweight Society 