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

Various 'Branko Presents: Enchufada Na Zona' (Enchufada)

Buraka Som Sistema member Branko has been highlighting the sounds of Lisbon and beyond since 2006 with his Enchufada label. Most recently, it released the Afrobeats-influenced EP ‘Sentah’ by London producer Mina, as well as ‘Damaia’ by Lisbon local KKing Kong. This comp, which features Branko’s own edits in addition to cuts from Gamboa Beatz, Rastronaut and Lorenzo BITW, is a perfect late-summer jam and a sample of the default Enchufada sound, with both upbeat and slower takes on genres ranging from kuduro and kizomba to trap. Populous’ ‘Umi’ undulates slowly and brightly, Branko’s rework of Dengue Dengue Dengue’s ‘Guarida’ hums with energy and ‘Banku Dade’ by Jowaa pops with percussion. “Na zona”, in Portuguese, is translated as something like “occupying a zone and owning it”, and Branko has done just that with this compilation.

9/10

Hood Joplin 'My Chain B' (Owake Records)

Edmonton, Alberta-based artist Hood Joplin is known as much for her fast-paced DJ sets as her commitment to the game. Her first release ‘#75FFA1’, a meditative collection of icy-toned beats, came out in 2016 – and now we finally have the her new album ‘Hazard’. It brings a mix of off-kilter, footwork-inspired bangers the whole way through, but ‘My Chain B’ is the standout – cosy and invigorating all at once, like stepping out of a sweaty club into a cool breeze.

8/10

Jikuroux 'Cradle Bay' (DECISIONS)

Last year’s ‘Ruptured Pulse’ EP, by Sydney producer and DJ Jikuroux, was one of the most slept-on releases of the year. The Decisions artist was playing around with the dark spaces of percussion in a way that no one else was, twisting bubbly tones around gasps and a brilliantly repurposed Britney Spears sample. This new one, ‘Cradle Bay’, finds her working with a more maximalist sound, and it pays off in a big way. The title track is ominous and stately, orienting around lilting chords; ‘Themed Break’ imbues the high-energy club space with a sombre r’n’b tinge, not unlike the work of Sinjin Hawke or Strict Face. Working with the idea of “reimagining anxiety as something beautiful”, the songs swell and dissipate, underscoring the all-consuming nature of anxious energy – how it can propel us forward in one moment, and draw us back in the next. Truly reflective moments in the dance are rare, but when they come to us, the mind-body alignment lends itself to a contentedness that’s hard to tap into elsewhere. ‘Cradle Bay’ explores wide spectrums of darkness and light, vulnerability and security, stability and unsteadiness – let it subsume you.

9/10

Ahadadream 'Movements' EP (More Time Records)

‘Movements’ is the second release from More Time, the label founded earlier this year by Icelandic producer SNØW and Radar Radio resident Ahadadream. The latter, already a prolific DJ in his own right, really shines on this EP full of percussive workouts. ‘Dhol’ is guided by the sound of the eponymous hand drum, punctuated by throbbing kicks and occasional low-end distortions, while ‘Bamboo Riddim’ rolls crisp snares, hi-hats and (presumably) bamboo-based percussion all together for five minutes of nonstop intensity. Each song is distinct in its project, but there’s the UK funky influence running throughout the record (‘Bonce’ is the standout in that regard). It’s the subtleties that make it special: DJs know a lot about timing, and the moments of hesitation punctuated by an echoing “DJ Ahadadream” tag really amp up the vibe. Though this came out back in May, we suspect people will still be rinsing ‘Movements’ by the end of the year, because every song here is an absolute banger.

9/10

Only Now 'Timeslave' EP (Infinite Machine)

Under the moniker Only Now, San Francisco producer Kush Arora also makes industrial-tinged bass music with plenty of low-end. ‘Timeslave’, his debut for the Mexico City-based label Infinite Machine, capitalises on the feelings of suspense hinted at by its title. ‘Psychic War (Part I)’ starts off as a wash of deep textures and comes to a heavy, noisy drone, which decrescendos as swiftly as it built up, and the title track chugs with dense distortion along amidst light bell tones, before drifting into silence, then noise. That’s not to say that these are all serious and undanceable reflections on the precarious, high-anxiety atmosphere of this year: ‘Liquid Eyes’ rattles hollowly along, shifting tempo carefully and deliberately, sounding not unlike a party in the sewers.

7/10

TLC Fam 'Isbethelo SeGqom' (Gqom Oh!)

Gqom Oh! was the first label to release a full-length compilation of gqom music, Durban’s signature dark bass sound, back in January 2016. Helmed by DJ Nan Kolè in Italy and Lerato Phiri in South Africa, their next record is by TLC Fam, a 23-member crew responsible for creating the “taxi kick”: a distorted, multi-layered hard kick made for the sound systems of the taxis in which gqom is played. Rowdy and roiling, ‘Isbethelo SeGqom’ maintains a propulsive energy all the way through its 10 tracks, in large part thanks to the group’s two main producers, Resto and DJ Magic. ‘Tribute To Nomfundo (Ladlal’iDark)’ combines an eerie string motif with a mixture of chanting, wailing and thumping breaks, while ‘Yash’impempe’ staggers woozily around the dancefloor, guided by piercing whistles. There are lots of sounds working in mild discordance with each other, which is mildly disorienting but in the best way, like when the strobe lights are flashing a little too fast in the dance. You get the sense that this music is truly born out of a group endeavour, which lends itself to an immense sonic fullness.

8/10

Various 'Support.FM' (SHXME)

Cretan artist Abyss X likes to push the boundaries of what the club can be, both in her extreme live performances and on her radio show SHAME. ‘Support.FM’, the debut release on her own label, will donate all proceeds to the organisation of the same name, a crowdfunding tool to raise bail and bond money for trans and gender-nonconforming people. Tapping artists from all over the world, the tracks on this compilation are epic and raucous. Standouts include ‘Rebirth’ by Berlin-based DJ Dis Fig, an anthemic ambient rumination, and NAR’s ‘Dysphoria’, which tumbles relentlessly over itself for a devastating two minutes. Also featuring work from Rabit, Rui Ho, Malibu, and Organ Tapes, ‘Support.FM’ is surprisingly cohesive in its cacophony. It’s not danceable so much as it is something to sit down and fully listen to, but it distinctly makes its own space for the listener to inhabit – a world that exists in between the club and day-to-day life.

9/10