Under the Radar - June 2024

When I think of forward-thinking techno, I think of releases like this. Exciting textures, excellent mixing, and silly genre deconstructions - Michael. ‘Imago’ uses mind-bending sounds that feel like they’ve fallen over the ledge into nothingness, with ‘Nil Frigo Ah’ being the clear crowning example of this. Disassociating patterns rattle in ‘Set Em’ and the Foodman remix of ‘Thoughts, Heavy’.

Eterna, the latest addition to Lisbon's dynamic music landscape, presents its second release ’Primitive Soundscapes’, by the visionary producer Bakongo (Livity Sound) otherwise known as Roska for his invaluable pioneering work in UK Funky.

Primitive Soundscapes is unnerving tonally. Simple elements bounce out of rhythm and we can’t help but disagree with the bio that reads ‘sun-kissed bouncy groove adorned with uplifting melodies’. It’s spooky. It’s mesmerising. It feels like we shouldn’t really be listening to this without supervision.

Wobblin’ into the festival season with INVT, the Miami duo’s new EP is a melting pot of cross border sounds from the UK and the Americas. The basses are wide and spacey, and the drum patterns are swung and groovy. Flying under the radar even when it was picked as one of the best releases of the month from Resident Advisor.

Four House tracks from Paris with equal parts braindance, acid, and modulation. ‘U Want Dis’ by Binary Digit is up first with dance-inducing 150 bpm electronica with a vocal CTA. It’s melody-rich, reminiscent of his break-out track ‘Und 38490’. If you were at Caribou in Dublin on the 6th of July, you would have heard the latter tune. Following is ‘Morning’ by Fasme with a more melancholy touch giving us electro and acid basslines to make you thunk, then GGGG, with ‘La Cueillette’, offers some sprinkling synths that sits neatly in the float house genre. ‘Mesonyx’ by Mud Deep (Co-owner of D.KO Records) and Sans-Qui closes out with some euphoric electronica heading into fuzzy breakbeats. A great release from D.KO records with an awesome release party that accompanied it.

D*mp (Ryan Dwyer) gifts us with four demos that samples his grandfather’s piano into downbeat moody tracks with spoken word from close friends. Weighted with emotion and creativity, D*mp’s productions are easy to come back to again and again. Need a hug? Listen to D*mp. Also, like, go hug someone.

In their own words – “it’s dance music by fans of DIY punk and Y2K pop, with a healthy dose of absurdity”. Keeping things a bit nutty and glossed in 90’s rave aesthetic, Bodysync release a funky album meant for all ears. No gatekeeping here, this is pure optimism in under thirty minutes. The album operates like we’ve just tuned into a radio station with comedic audio bites filling the space between the huge variety of sounds. A fantastic album with standouts like ‘I Can't Stop’ rocking on with acid arps, ‘Babies’ grooving hard with a squelchy bass, ‘What Us Worry’ beaming with old-skool cha-cha slide vibes, and ‘6 million’ riding high as a peak-time dance floorfiller. Running the numbers, this release flies under the radar considering Ryan Hemsworth’s (one half of Bodysync) Instagram following!

91 riddimz for £20 isn’t too bad? Warehouse dubs carries a lot of big names like CRRDR, DJ Crisps, Main Phase, Old Boy, and our recent Sweatbox guest Zuli. Also on the cards is Ambit, who we’re very excited to play alongside at Macalla Festival this July. Their track carries an ominous, dark mood with grungy basses and crisp chopped-up breaks.

It’s all about the groove at Club Cute. The Londoner, along with some close pals, covers a full spectrum of sound with grime, tek, dub, bass, and hip-hop on show. A diverse range gelled together by his personal touch which embraces ‘feel’ over fidelity. CuuUuute!

‘Like a Summer’ by Darlynn is the collaboration between producer Daria Lourd and vocalist Jaelynn Walls. It’s a light and fun UKG number with catchy melodies that gets remixed by three producers with mucho talent; RITCHRD, introspekt, and Bastiengoat.

Budding bass music from Reasons to Dance co-head Dåser on Into Blue Sky, the second release from the Irish label. Another exciting Irish act hailing from the capital, finds flow here with quartet of unconventional bass tracks, luring us in with cascading break beats, low end driven proggy house, glowing and groovy 140 4x4’s, and dub fuelled baile. Sputnik One joins in to lend his hand on maybe the EP’s standout, ‘Bubble Baile’, adding a pacing funky twitch to the original. A really exciting debut EP. We’ll be keeping an eye on both Reasons to Dance and Dåser going forward.

Fretting soundscapes from Dorset boy Ship Sket. From jittery synth progressions that fall into drill, to sample torn deconstructica, Sket haunts, daunts, and excites across four tracks of uncompromising, psychedelic bass music.

A certain Glasgow spinster has been dishing out an array of low key Soundcloud heataz over the past month or so. DJ Maicol’s La Mas Berraka alias churns out a Latin-tinged electro trash waltzer here, one of a handful of tracks that has appeared on their cloud in recent weeks. They’re all hot as hell, but this is perhaps the standout. This guy be taking over!

Glasgow icon HUNTRESS adds a fiery club spin to Tinashe’s unavoidable superhit ‘Nasty’ with references to Philly club hero JAVASCRIPT. Think raunchy Baltimore club with tinges of baile-funk & jersey and you’re somewhere about there with this one.

Growingly influential Dublin act Lúnasa lands with a beautifully momentous ambient breakbeat number on ‘Intifada’. The track illustrates current global hopelessness with desires for a brighter future. 100% of the proceeds from this track will go to PAL humanity. This initiative provides aid primarily in the form of medication distribution, nappies, menstrual pads, baby formula etc.

Roo Honeychild’s iconic City Imp label returned this June after teasing their first works back in 2021. A while to wait but all the more worth it with this club epic from fellow Dubliner Ozwald. Combining jersey club, Baltimore, summery breaks, juke trax, and even Aoife McGregor’s infamous voice note rant :O Back of the Bus has it all and more!

Italian net label angels gun club return for the fourth instalment of PERREOTEK. 24 tracks of various perreo formulas, merging the infamous Latin sound with psytrance, electro, and sensual reggaeton & dancehall imaginings. Big hitters like Brenda, CRRDR, & Edinburgh club titan papa wkd all appear on the VA.

NTS Radio resident and psychic reader, Peach is reviving tech house with square basses, punchy kicks, and delicate synth lines. After becoming Boiler Room’s sweetheart in 2022, she has gone from strength to strength in her musical journey. ‘Charmed’ EP is four tracks full of club goodies. The EP-titled track, ‘Charmed’, is the standout with a fun split of sprinkly synths and squelchy basses on top, and rigid, compressed drums underneath.

Seriously electrifying club music from Danish act Hekt on the stalwart Glasgow imprint Numbers. Title track ‘Dream’ is a truly momentous number, one you’d expect to be lighting up festival circuit’s globally this year (It probably is, I’ve just not been too many ;). Such an inducing melody and vocal chop that is then followed by the sultry bass of ‘Front’. Two tracks that go head first. Maybe my release of the summer so far… Chill out Brat stans!

A release that may have been criminally overlooked due to a certain Charli. Blue Hawaii’s dance epic ‘Diamond Shovel’ is yet another typically vibrant entry from the Montreal duo. An insatiable pop club album firing out euro dance pumpers, hard electro, and tear jerking slow sets. Think Kylie. Think Soft Cell. Then think TAAHLIAH. Brutalismus 3000. Sounds like a delectable meeting of minds right?! That’s kind of the vibe here. A few Polacheky tones too. All in all, unreal.