November: 7 bass releases you need to hear this month

Kxngs 'Earth Sign' (Ex-Local)

Ah, London: the one city that can always be relied upon to keep electronic music in flux (that’s a good thing, by the way). If ever there was a musical melting pot, it’s the British capital. We just can’t imagine a record like this coming from anywhere else – not because of any obvious London genre affiliation, like dubstep or grime, but because of its fondness for booming bass and the sprinkling of familiar, ravey samples: the opening keyboard ripple was prevalent in the jungle/d’n’b era, for instance, and it also has the kind of minor key chord progressions that only work when you’re full of urban dread. But Brixton-based Kxngs also draws from South African house, Angolan kuduro, reggaeton and Latin flavours. ‘Earth Sign’ feels modern in its global awareness, and the choice of references tend to be good, but the whole thing feels close to a mix of existing material; Kxngs needs to work on finding himself among all of the other styles, too.

7/10