February: 7 bass & club releases you need to hear this month

Cralias 'Element' (TAR)

Los Angeles label TAR was responsible for releasing our Album Of The Month in January, the stunning debut from neo-classical artist MICHELANGEL0. Now they’ve done it again with this four-track EP from Cralias. The Lewisham-based producer’s four-track EP, ‘Element’, works within and around Afro-Portuguese rhythms, draping them with bright, glistening themes. In contrast to the sounds of Lisbon labels such as Príncipe Discos and Golden Mist, Cralias’ take on similar rhythmic elements are slightly more removed. The vantage point of the listener is continually shifted by the shaky, celestial ambience on faster-paced tracks such as ‘Sweet’ and ‘Sultan’, as well as with the controlled bittersweetness of ‘Tell Me’ and ‘Hope You Care’.

8/10

ADR 'Throat' (PAN)

The music of New York producer Aaron David Ross, aka ADR, is an exercise in balance. Highs and lows play off of each other with an intentional smoothness that’s rare in electronic music; each movement and every pause is deliberate, which makes sense when you consider the artist’s background in classical composition and interest in contemporary art and technology practices. ‘Throat’ is his second release on PAN (a follow-up to 2015’s impressive multimedia endeavour ‘Deceptionista’) and, uniquely, is entirely made up of vocal sounds. It’s an approach that produces warped reconstructions of pop and r’n’b stylings that are simultaneously gritty and glossy. Highlights include ‘King David’, a late-night reflection with choral tones and keening melodies, and ‘No Sweat’, which takes on DJ Mustard-esque basslines and contains a pop-influenced breakdown. ‘Throat’ is heady, thick and sensory: of the body, for the body. To listen is to get swallowed up.

8/10