Juno Recommends Bass: 2024

Review: A full nine years on from the generation-defining smash success that was In Colour, comes In Waves, the upcoming second studio album by former indie band heartthrob come electronic-music matinee idol, Jamie xx. We don't imagine that the success of In Colour is easy to top, so we don't blame Jamie for waiting almost a full decade to follow it up. That said, the lead singles on this one do a pretty good job of marking the album's shift away from the summer-jammy and/or sentimental electronica ballad focus of In Colour; 'Baddie On The Floor' and 'Life' verge on French house and future house in turn, and suggest something of a shift in interest for xx towards the faster ends of things. Jamie xx's intended aim, in releasing label Young's words, was to recreate the thrilling volatility of an 'almost mystical' night out, "one where you return home in the cigarette ash dawn, the specifics of the last eight hours already blurring, but aware that these feelings will remain a crystalline memory." We eagerly await the ensuing, full-length story of heartbreak and introspection promised by the remaining tracks.

Review: In Waves is Jamie xx's second full-length solo album, and the patented thematic follow-up to 2015's In Colour. The former album marked the height of a certain formative summer in dance music history, in which the UK at large opened its eyes to the potent admixture of its various musical heritages and seemed to meld them into one (perhaps this was best represented by Jamie's membership of a chart-topping indie band, and nonetheless simultaneous indulgence of solo beatcraft and DJing, which saw to a technicolour crock of collaborations we never thought possible, such as with Gil Scott-Heron and Young Thug). In Waves, however, posits the question of where we might've gone since. Channelling as ever Jamie's essential "soft-rounded" drums and clean, yet sample-heavy embellishments sifted from various classic soul and funk records, In Waves nonetheless sacrifices the sentimental ballad-dirges heard on In Colour for a more club-bound portrayal of a comparatively disinhibited night out. Livelier than In Colour, we're transported right on back to a certain kind of dancefloor, one that we'd felt remiss of for almost a good half of the decade in between the two albums.

Review: Lurka is back on his own label Damage which is a place for harder-edged sounds and here includes remixes from Ossia. The one original, 'Red', is a thrilling rhythmic workout with a skeletal kick drum pattern that is broken and loopy, and deft percussion layered in over the top next to wet synths and undulating bass. Ossia's first rework spins it out into a more distorted and manic cut fizzing with static electricity while the second is slightly more paired back but no less menacing. This one has been mastered at Scape in Berlin and is mad limited to just 100 copies so do not wait around.

Review: Martyn's 'Vancouver' is back for 2024, but it's had a serious facelift. Two new remixes, released on his own label 3024, take the 2008 dubstep roller into new territory, each adding its own unique twist. Verraco, hailing from Medellin, opens with his MDE Reshape, and it's a rave-ready banger that doesn't mess about. Martyn's signature restraint is still there, but it's been turbocharged with a funky twist, skippy beats, and an otherworldly vibe that feels like you're dancing inside a spaceship with a crew of robots. Not your average club track-this one's for the late-night dancefloor when things start to get weird (in the best way). Then there's Berlin-based Rhyw, who takes things in a much darker direction with his SKG Mix. This version swaps out the skippy for the sinister, featuring a broken, ambiguous beat that keeps you on edge. The bassline hums like an angry fly circling your head, and there's a formidable sense of menace in the atmosphere. It's moody, it's unsettling, and it's exactly what you want when you're three hours deep into a night out and looking for a track to completely flip the room.
Both remixes are part of 3024's Through Lines project, and expertly mastered by Beau at Ten Eight Seven, because of course they are-these are polished, precision tools for DJs looking to mix up the vibe. Two very different remixes, but both guaranteed to get heads nodding, if not fully spinning.

Review: Ghost Phone has always been an intriguing label with a great aesthetic that pairs casper the friendly ghost with second-wave Nokia mobile phones, suggesting it is inspired by the late 90s and early 00s. The sounds testify to that too - often drawing n the UK hardcore continuum, bass and garage with their skeletal rhythms and shimmering pads. Pitched-up r&b vocals on "Want U' make it a real standout while opener 'Hologram' is more about shifting tones and eerie moods. 'So Gone' brings dusty jungle breaks as heard second-hand down the phone and 'Darkness Finds Home With U' closes out with yet another idiosyncratic yet familiar sound.

Review: Five years on from its initial release in November 2019, London experimental electronic artist turned avant-pop producer Vegyn shares an anniversary reissue of his sophomore record, Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds. The second to hit the multi-format shelves after the PLZ label debut All Bad Things Have Ended, Only Diamonds Cut Diamonds broke away from the former record's dancier orientation for a longer-form, ludic lollop through 16 tastefully detuned, light-but-driven close-ups. Stylistically, the tracks take after many a then already-prominent figurehead of the London scene: easily file big hitter 'It's Nice To Be Alive' next to Mount Kimbie, though be careful not to pigeonhole the record too soon, for the heads' choices 'Debold', 'When I Strike...' and 'Fake Life' indulge a moodier cyberpunk streak, veering tricksier and trappier on the drums, and increasingly bulbous, bass-spread and neon on the pads.

Review: Throwing Snow (Ross Tones) returns for yet another sublime full-length of expansive dance landscapery, Isthmus. Titularly riffing off the name for a conjoining spit of land connecting two larger landmasses, we're instantly met with transitional and developmental moods, ones which still do not fail to hold back from indulging all manner of looming sonic gargantuans; synethic, spectrum-straddling wringings-out. The album also marks a refreshingly, increasingly experimental direction for the artist; once you get past the expository Shepard tones and all-seeing sense-frying twinges of 'Ribboning', you're then met with a suite of full-blown dance-truncators and crossrythmic blissouts, with 'The Madness Of The Bull' recalling a cyborg Nyabinghi drum circle and 'Apricity' moving more post-punk come noisy hellscape. Of course, the album errs further in the direction of Throwing Snow's patented style of post-dubstep sample-dance towards its latter half, with 'Ephemeral' cadencing on a Bonobo-esque chimer and 'Hear The Tongue Fork' seguing from apocalyptic gast to heart-in-mouth amazement.

Review: Beau operates at the sharp end of the UK electronic underground and creates an immersive, dark ambient sound that is influenced by trailblazers like Burial. His soundscapes combine ethereal textures with moody rhythms and that is very much the case here on Lacuna, his new album for Feat PLAtes. It is full of roomy sounds, icy glass synths, smeared pads, late-night moods and evocative atmospheres that draw you in ever deeper, sometimes looking over your shoulder, always lost in deep thought. A real lost tape from the short-lived night bus genre, you could say.

Review: Upsammy's 2023 stonker Germ In A Population Of Buildings now comes to vinyl via PAN. Continuing in one very particular aspect of the Amsterdam musician's craft - her interest in architecture and environmental design, and how that plays into and informs on sound - this LP evinces ideas of a rewilded modernist edifice, avoiding static textures in favour of a 'constantly shifting' sound. An IDM record teeming with electroacoustic textures, all of which sound "alive" - wood, brick, steel, ceramic, concrete, you name the building material - it seems that Upsammy's intent is to physically model almost every possible foley impact on the planet and arrange it into a single whimsical symphony. A digital audiophile's dream.

Review: Adam Curtain makes a fantastic debut here on the Alien Communications label as he collides come classic bleep-laden and highly danceable electron grooves with plenty of hefty basslines. 'Slipped Disc' quacks off with some ice cold atmospheres and electro-inspired rhythms, 'Whistling Wizard' is another ice-cold blend of crisp rhythms and tiny hits with sci-fi motifs and whirring machine details. 'DRM' then brings a winky and hiccuping rhythm with some superbly stark hits and 'I Want, Want' is a stripped back rhythm with dry synths and rasping sounds that are abstract yet infectious.

Review: Exit Records wraps up its 100 series with EXIT100 Pt. Four, featuring an eclectic line-up of cutting-edge beats, drum & bass, techno and experimental tracks. Curated by label boss dBridge, it embodies Exit's forward-thinking ethos that brings together some of the most inventive names in the scene. From Tasha & Cadans' 'Soft Grimness' to Freedom Engine's atmospheric 'Welcome to the Pharmacy,' each track showcases a unique approach to the electronic dance scene. This final instalment perfectly represents Exit's progressive sound and vision, celebrating a legacy while firmly looking to the future.

Review: London producer Vegyn lays down a fresh cassette reissue of his early cut Text While Driving If You Want To Meet God!, throwing back to simpler days of BPM-tagged beatmaking and heartbreaking. Coming fresh after the producer found lasting fame as Frank Ocean's trusty go-to, Vegyn broke all the rules with this one, digitally offering up over 70 short mix-ready electronic cuts. All the bits on the record played duly by the rules of lo-fi beatmaking that populated the online world at the time - trap production hallmarks and producer tags ("did I ever tell you that I'm Vegyn?") aplenty - yet also did something to transcend them, with the artist's establishing style predominantly revolving around extra-organic textures, skittery humanised drums, and detuned synths. The new cassette edition already serves to nostalgise the record, reflecting just how fast herbivore has moved.

Review: Three years in the making, Peaky Beats' debut ten-track LP Bloodlines takes us on a journey through ancient and modern Middle-Eastern sounds fused with the whole gamut of UK bass music. Whether riffing off the mystical promises of the Jewish 'Kabbalah' or the feline gaze of the 'Cats Of Iraq', this is hardly a record sharing in the moody obsessional headnods evinced by Muslimgauze; instead, all tracks here are weighty two-steppers' gut-punctures, squeezing reams of tricksy garagey fun from the otherwise sparse reference to the Middle East - though this is eventually thoroughly fleshed out, especially in the use of characteristically Levantine samples in the breakdowns and transitions.

Review: The artist himself admits that The Glory Days EP marks a new era for Alan Johnson after a decade of sporadic releases. Building on last year's Stillness EP, this release features entirely new music which has been made over the past two years as the creative process has been refined and moved towards a simpler storytelling approach. Assembled for the YUKU label, the EP showcases a shift in sound that blends past influences with new experimentation and danceable, glossy playfulness. Divided into two distinct moods, it reflects both a nod to a chaotic past and a glimpse into the future with earthed low ends and kinetic rhythms run through with fizzy electronics and menacing moods.

Review: The DEXT label serves up a firing Limited Compilation here for its fifth outing and it calls upon several serious bass heads for the beats. K-65's 'Heavyweight' is brilliantly energetic and lithe, with lurching loops and slamming hits, ten bass and twisted vocal stabs. Krotone's 'Mashdown' is a frenzied breakbeat workout with jungle signifiers and trippy melodies, then Local Group's 'Water Dub' slows things down a touch with oscillating low ends and fresh hits all underpinned by dubbed-out bass. Dawn Razor's 'Autopods' shuts down with controlled chaos - the bouncing drums, the rattling hits, the metallic textures and the pinging leads that all make you move every bone in your body.

Review: Stark, uncompromised body music from one of the most interesting unapologetic duos to emerge in recent times - Sha Ru make their debut on Monkeytown with this outstanding five tracker. Visceral, political but, most importantly, fully physical; 'They Are Textural' flexes deep shades of electro, breaks and even d&b in provocative brew. An exploration of queer identity that sits somewhere between Madonna, Modeselektor and Massive Attack but through a brutalist, industrial lens; Sha Ru have a powerful and intoxicating vibe that's genuinely one of a kind. Essential.

Review: Thousand Yard Stare marks re:ni's third 12" release and her debut on the RE:LAX label which is also the name of the club night she co-runs with Laksa. Following previous releases by Harba, Jurango and Laksa himself, the EP continues the label's exploration of high-tempo club music that blends the hardcore continuum's energy with precise sound design and technical craftsmanship. The title references the dissociative state caused by trauma and explores how music expresses emotions beyond words. Sonically, the EP follows a signature bass-driven, vocal-led style in the 140-150 BPM range. It bangs, for sure.

Review: Portuguese producer and Enchufada label owner Branko is back with his fourth full-length solo album and once again he pushes his own high standards even further. Soma was recorded in Lisbon over a three-day jam session that saw him asking plenty of top local Lisbon-based musicians to improvise over rhythmic frameworks. The resulting man-hours live recording was the blueprint for the album which Brano then worked into the compelling and worldly tunes you have here with vocals from the likes of London, Cape Verde, and Brazil, including Jay Prince, June Freedom, BIAB, and Tuyo.

Review: Cashmere Cat made quite the splash when he dropped Wedding Bells on LuckyMe back in 2014. In its deft balance of pristine hyper-pop, plaintive classical piano and sneaker-scuffed bass, 'With Me' confirmed his maximalist, misfit appeal in the fine tradition of LuckyMe artists, by going on to work with top tier artists like Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Sophie, Major Lazer... the list goes on. This small but perfectly formed EP captures a moment in music perfectly, when the past decade of stylistic splintering had left the playing field pleasingly wide open and its more than deserving of a repress ten years on.

Review: Time to stare right in the eye of Jupiter again as the legendary and un-accidental hero Sonic rolls out his fourth solo studio album Embers on wax. Previously dropping LPs on the likes of Western Lore and Sneaker Social Club, this one comes courtesy of check-on-sight fringe fusionists Yuku and it draws heavily on his roots in the jungle / hardcore primordial soup in the most exciting creative ways. Big synth blasts and steamroller drums ('The Holy Breaks'), ominous tension and rising drama ('Fatal Crash Test') and the all-essential de-climatising end-of-journey meltdown ('The Shadow & The Light') A stunning Sonic trip in all the right ways.

Review: More funk for your trunk! Brussels most provocative player DJ Elephant Power stampedes back into the mix with more subversive, fully uncategorisable gold. Pick a genre, any genre and we guarantee you won't be thinking of what's here as we gently melt from the nifty ravey breaks the opening title track to the sleepy, woozy tension of the finale cut 'Infinity'. In between we have bumping bewitching house ('I Got You') and strange slow-mo electro ('Shades'). Thinking of sleeping on this? Tusk tusk tusk on you.

Review: London trio Damos Room serve up their take on dub-inspired bass music on this new EP which emerged from a rare collaborative session in Elijah Minnelli's loft. 'Commencement' opens with a deep, droning bass groove that's topped with a stream of conscious muttering to create a moody and hypnotic sound. 'Mineral Blend' brings a laid-back dancehall vibe with dreamy echoes of past sessions and remixers Gonjasufi, Lewi Boome, Dome Zero and Polyop individually infuse the tracks with dub techno, acid and experimental twists best highlighted by Gonjasufi's haunting transformation of 'Commencement' into a misty, immersive bit of sonic menace.