October: 8 bass releases you need to hear this month

Mykki Blanco 'Mykki' (!K7)

You can’t say that Mykki typifies New York rap (even in 2016), but he was at the forefront of the queer hip hop movement. What made it a movement other than homosexual MCs? The use of experimental club producers for beats, a combination that's yielded great results. The fact that this LP is released by !K7 and produced by Woodkid and Jeremiah Meece (of The-Drum) means Mykki’s gained visibility since then, but he hasn't lost any edge either. Its 13 tracks are more versatile in lyrical depth and vocal flow than before and, when added to his trademark intensity, are proof that Mykki's moved to the next level.

8/10

Nidia Minaj 'Festive' (Príncipe Discos)

Príncipe is the label that turned us on to Lisbon’s batida and post-kuduro scene. For the past few years, its trademark bouncy syncopation and piercing synths have been lighting up DJ sets all over Europe, so imagine our excitement at receiving their new 23-track comp. It’s hard to pick one cut when so many are so good, but Nidia Minaj’s ‘Festive’ combines hyperactive energy generated from minimal repetition with an unbeatable sense of funk.

9/10

Galtier 'Myth Codes' (Infinite Machine)

For anyone concerned with experimental club music, the past several years have been a confusing and exciting time. We’ve got access to more music than ever, which means more widespread influences are creeping into everything, especially the quick-moving underground. Genres are dissolving faster than the discourse around it can define what’s happening. That’s the scene that Bristol-based producer Galtier and Montreal-based label Infinite Machine seem most invested in. Suitably, Galtier seems to work a lot of different reference points into his three originals. Opener 'Chain', which uses the sound of a chain dropping as percussive cymbal, starts with dubstep heft but breaks down into bumping bassline swing and off-beat kick. 'Gold Bones' may ultimately be four to the floor but the snares have a nice shimmy and the synths go grime. ‘Charm Complex’ finds the military stomp used so effectively by Jam City, who many would point to as ground zero for this scene. Throw in pulsing remixes of 'Chain' by Iydes (co-founder of London club night Tropical Waste) and 'Gold Bones' by Sam West of the Sans Absence label, and you’ve got an entertaining take on club dissolution.

7/10

Laksa '66 Rebels' (Mistry)

In places like Singapore and Malaysia, laksa is a hot spicy noodle soup – comfort food for the people. We imagine that London-based producer Laksa is aware of that, although his music isn't exactly comforting. He describes the A-side for this follow-up 12” as being about the parliamentary vote to bomb Syria, and an homage to the 66 Labour MPs who voted against. Laksa imagines the bleeps in this UK bass rollage as arms firing, and the bassline could be heavy artillery. B-side ‘Ctrl Delete’ keeps it equally tense with a leaner production full of space, granular synth decay and hi-hat energy. Both tracks are robust stompers that are full of FWD-looking spirit.

7/10

Lanark Artefax 'Glasz' (UIQ)

Lee Gamble’s UIQ label has been consistently adventurous in its abstracted club signings, and 22 year-old Glaswegian Lanark Artefax is more proof of that. The press release cites Autechre and Gamble himself as reference points, and those are useful artists to help tune your ears here: Artefax has a slippery way with beats that comes straight from the former's playbook, although his sound palette is probably closer overall to the latter. ‘Glasz’ is only five tracks and 20 minutes long, but it’s a meaty release that bears many multiple listens. While it’s clearly experimental music, there’s an innate funk and allegiance to the dancefloor to hold onto. If that weren’t enough, he manages to convey some emotion and a different mood or two as well. It’s an impressive debut.

8/10

Lexxi '5TARB01' (Endless Exclusive)

Not living in London, we've never been to the Endless club night, but even from afar, we can tell it’s one of the key events in the city for anyone who's interested in bass movements. Lexxi, who's one of the main players behind both the club night and this new label coming out of it, steps up with the inaugural Endless Exclusive release featuring five cosmic rave instrumentals. You can still call it “bass” (which admittedly is itself a catch-all term), but Lexxi is especially strong with melodies. With multiple mid-range synth lines going in any given track, he’s particularly fond of rippling arpeggios. In fact, it brings to mind the sound of the hotly debated (at the time) UK hardcore continuum offshoot, wonky. Lexxi’s militant snares help to differentiate it from that dubstep response; he’s probably closer in spirit to the post-genre international cast of producers connecting over cyberspace.

7/10

Randomer & Hodge 'Second Freeze/Simple As'' (Dnuos Ytivil)

A meeting of minds from two key artists in the UK’s bassified techno scene. Londoner Randomer and Bristolian Hodge sound so natural together that this 12” could feasibly pass as the work of either on their own. Yet the combination of the two clearly brings out the best in both of them, making for two hard-hitting tracks of tough, polyrhythmic UK bass. A-side ‘Second Freeze’ wastes no time setting up the mood with offbeat drum hits and a synth element that sounds more like a transmission from outer space. B-side ‘Simple As’ relies on a snare substitute to keep regular time, letting the kick explore. The only melodic elements in this one are vocal abstractions; the percussion does all the work. For both, while the results are immediate, the builds are deceptively complex.

8/10

Various 'Grime Work' (Sublow Sounds)

This compilation EP shares five tracks from producers who are all interested in mixing up the genres of grime and footwork, hence its title. While footwork and jungle are natural brethren at 160 bpm, grime feels like more of a stretch. But history has taught us that adding grimy elements to most genres works, so no real surprise that this does, too. It mostly operates on sonic signifiers: footwork snares and hi-hats, grimy minor-key basslines and eski clicks. It’s essentially pitched-up grime with added percussion. As with most grime, the interplay between half-step stagger and the uptempo (in this case, the freneticism of footwork’s 160 bpm tempo) creates a pleasurable dyamic. But none of these producers truly have the chops yet to make this experiment anything more than a fun diversion.

7/10