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

Various 'Club Chai Vol 1' (Club Chai)

While everyone has a different idea of what the club is supposed to sound like, most people agree on what the club is supposed to feel like – an experience in which you are simultaneously present in your body, but also able to transcend it through the music. Club Chai, the Oakland-based event series and curatorial project founded by 8ulentina and Foozool, has captured that feeling eloquently with their first compilation. Explicitly centering diasporic narratives, women and trans artists, DJs and producers in their work, here they showcase 21 tracks by artists from all over the world including DJ Haram, Florentino and Russell EL Butler. Running the spectrum from simmering bass music to experimental sound collages to syrupy pop, it creates a singular space for a variety of sounds and moods, with a cohesion not found in any other release right now.

9/10

Santa Muerte & Rules 'Dangerous Scenarios' (Infinite Machine)

Santa Muerte established themselves as ones to watch last year, after the Houston duo dropped their debut record ‘Oraciones’ on their own label, Majía, and also released a string of inventive bootlegs on SoundCloud. Their second EP, ‘Cicatriz’, came out on Infinite Machine in December, and ‘Dangerous Scenarios’, featuring DC artist and Bala Club affiliate Rules, is the standout track. Tense and heady, it’s a dark invitation into the night, featuring eerie strings, distorted percussion and desperate, snarling vocals. 8/10

RGL '1 Thing' (Breaker Breaker)

Breaker Breaker is the South London label that put out house producer Ross From Friends’ debut EP, ‘Alex Brown’, to critical acclaim. For its latest release, it’s sought out up-and-coming talent from Tokyo in RGL (real name Rigly Chang), who’s also a member of the multi-faceted Cosmopolyphonic collective. ‘1 Thing’ is actually three things, each track an exemplar of sunny deep house. While the Ross From Friends release was more sombre, RGL’s record is definitely more cheerful and goes well with the early evening.

It’s romantic and fuzzy: ‘S U G A’ silkily sets the tone with a groovy piano riff and soft handclaps, ‘What About’ works in a jazzy bassline and an effervescent disco sample, and ‘Wade’ submerges you in soothing echoes and a myriad of glistening percussion. The best bits of ‘1 Thing’ come midway through the tracks, when the EQ opens up and you’re deliciously enveloped by the full range of sounds. The warmth spreads like water, seeping gently into the breaks little by little.

8/10

Swan Meat 'Bounty' (PERMALNK)

Producer Swan Meat, aka Reba Fay, bursts onto the scene with her debut EP on Parisian experimental label PERMALNK. ‘Bounty’ is an exploration into the utmost limits of viscerality – your body is actively pulled inside the music and incorporated into the large-scale compositions themselves.

The record was in part inspired by video games and their relationships to bodies and selves, and you can feel that as you become entangled in the mesh of disparate sounds. The songs glow and heave with an overwhelming energy, held together by Fay’s spoken word pieces, choppy samples and massive low-end distortions. ‘Umwelt’ combines static blasts with choral singing and an ice-cold synth motif that rises slowly in pitch, wrapping itself around you at first comfortably, then tighter and tighter. ‘Phist’, featuring 111x, is perhaps the most clubby track if you listen solely to the drum patterns, but ambient landscapes and Fay’s voice cut through the haze for a moment of respite. This isn’t a record you can listen to casually; it demands your full attention and commitment, then subsumes you.

9/10

Superfície 'Hélices' (Salviatek)

With a penchant for interweaving sounds of the natural world with technological apparatuses, Montevideo’s Salviatek label has been making a name for itself since 2015. Its first international release (following two stellar records from Pobvio and Lechuga Zafiro) comes from Brazilian producer Superfície, who blends baile funk rhythms with staggering percussive breaks and rainforest ambience. EP opener ‘Febre Do Vale’ is a deliberate midtempo march that traps you in a slinky crossfire of snares and lasers, while the lurching echoes at the beginning of ‘Hélice’ settle around you like a mist before giving way to stoic drum patterns.

The SoundCloud descriptor calls the record a “chase”, and the breathless, interlocking rhythms are what sets Hélices apart from other fast-paced club sounds; there’s a precision in the mix that’s rare to find. That precision extends to the release’s final cuts as well – Salviatek has a particular strength in knowing who to tap for a remix, and Club Chai co-founder Foozool’s version of ‘Dengue Drums’ smoothly flips the agitated energy of the original track, using hang drums and an ominous droning texture.

9/10

Letta 'Redemption' (Coyote Records)

Letta’s emergence has been well-documented over the past couple of years, especially for those paying attention to fresh, transcontinental takes on grime and hip hop beats. The producer’s originally from Arizona, but his debut on London label Coyote Records was infused with those trademark square waves and moody melodies from across the pond.

He’s described ‘Redemption’ as a sonic documentation of his whirlwind rise in 2016, from LA’s Skid Row to international gigs, and you can hear it throughout the album. Where ‘Testimony’ could be seen as bold and absolute in tone, this new record is softer and more meditative. This really comes through on the collaborations – ‘She Does Die’, with vocals from New York artist Fielded, plinks along with a gentle, humming end rather than a big drop, while Ryan Hemsworth features on ‘Far Off’. Ultimately, ‘Redemption’ finds Letta capitalising on what he does best, especially on the likes of ‘I Still Dream’ and ‘You Were Wrong’, adding r’n’b grooves to the dark wubs and wall-shaking kicks.

8/10

Walton 'Taiko' (Kaizen)

Manchester producer Sam Walton has been around for a minute, creating lively, percussive takes on grime and UK bass. The four tracks from his latest record ‘Taiko’, released on Madam X’s label Kaizen, are all structured around suspenseful pauses, careening back and forth with help from wispy flutes and tumbling snares. Hand drums pulse along with wobbly synthscapes on the EP’s strongest tracks, ‘Taiko’ and ‘Black Hole’. The variety of Walton’s releases show his willingness to engage with new motifs, but at times his direction seems a bit random. That being said, ‘Taiko’ has received support from Loefah, Paleman and Scratcha DVA, so he’s definitely doing something right.

7/10

Nina Posner is Mixmag's bass & club editor, follow her on Twitter