Two of the hardest-working and most consistent European dubstep representatives have this week teamed up to give away two free tunes. Antics is a Belgian DJ/producer and the man behind the country's premiere dubstep event, Midnite Run, which has welcomed over the last two years, among many others, the likes of Cyrus, District, Lurka, Subreachers, Killa & Instinct, Sleeper and Goth Trad. TMSV, from the Netherlands, has been quietly carving out his own unique and highly-rated sound from the so-often-saturated 140bpm mark and marking his progression with a steady stream of releases, notably through Box Clever, as well as the criminally-overlooked 'Dem A Talk' bootleg which arguably set the ball rolling, with other producers since taking a shot at working the vocal sample into their own tunes.
With the recent reinvigoration of the half-step leaning deep dubstep sound, it seems that 'Angles' and the Orientis imprint which brings it forward will serve as an important defining point in the progression of the genre. At eleven tracks, the statement is of quality over quantity and this quality is ensured by label-head Thelem's intense attention to detail: there is no filler here. The whole collection is defined by an acute sense of control and restraint, and it is the addition of this element which is so vital to the overall success of the release as both a project and a statement from the artists and label involved.
Beginning with Thelem's own 'Illusions', the album takes a rolling start over tight kicks and a hypnotic panning synth before moving into the haunting territory of Killa & Instinct's 'Halftime' with its bulging bassline. Subreachers' 'Left Hand Path' adds a subtle skip to the beat with a scatter of high-hats over a growling bassline, which is extended by BunZer0's techy offering in the form of 'Recovering' and 'Krymia', the first of two tunes from Crisp, which trails a floating synth over neatly tumbling percussion.
It is at this point that Antics' 'Unconscious' drops in with a stripped-back beat and pulsing sub and settles the pace once more. This careful ordering of the tracks serves as another reminder of the attention given to the details as 'Apocrypha', a collaboration between Instinct & Thelem, gently draws the listener from their halftime sway. Collision uses tribal drums and an eery sample on 'Another Planet' to build in progression over a warping bassline and lead into Crisp's heavy roller, 'Surge'.
The penultimate track on the compilation, Pressa's 'Orbs', lets a tightly controlled bass melody flow under rounded synth stabs before Legend4ry's 'That Kid's Got Spirit' rounds of the collection with a twisting bassline, reverb-laced synths and something of a telling sentiment in its title.
To add to this, we've linked up with the Orientis family to exclusively offer something a little extra. First up is a free bonus track for the compilation from Pressa: 'Concussed' is a stuttering roller with plenty of swing in its drums and licks of his characteristically delicate, minimal synths. Also included is an exclusive mix of the tracks featured on the compilation which has been put together by Killa & Instinct and showcases the tunes featured, by a simple re-ordering and a series of subtle blends, in a different light.
Antics' Midnite Run Sessions on Rood FM are always worth a listen, if not only for his choice selection of beats then for the guest mixes featured on the show. Killa & Instinct, TMSV and Thelem have all laid down heavy exclusive mixes for our mix series, and so come highly recommended. The tracklists, which balance old favourites and upfront dubplates, all speak for themselves and make each one a must for the download.
Our latest feature comes courtesy of Belgian production duo Subreachers. With a style that touches on a wide-range of sounds within bass music, their beats are hardly confined by any notion of genre specific sounds. Unafraid to build lush, atmospheric layers, uncompromising in their emphasis on heavy-sub and above all dedicated to making music with feeling, be it deep, dark or ambient, their production output is one of real depth, variety and originality. With a slew of releases lined up for the coming year, including a 12" on the forward-looking bass label Orientis records, we caught up with Subreachers to discuss future plans, their sound and the Belgian bass scene.
HEDMUK: To introduce yourself to those who don't know yet, what are your names, where are you from and how would you describe the music you make?
Tim Subreachers: Hi my name’s Tim , I’m from Willebroek, near Antwerp , Belgium.
Matthias Subreachers: Hi my name’s Matthias, I’m from Londerzeel, near Antwerp, Belgium. The music we make is hard to describe because it’s so broad, it goes from autonomic style D&B to dark low end dubstep or even experimental ambient soundscapes. For us a name, tempo or genre doesn't really matter. We just make whatever comes up in our minds not really taking notice of any particular genre or sound.
T: Of course we have a lot of influences but we try not to focus too much on what other people are doing and try to do our own thing.
H: Did you produce individually before joining to form Subreachers? How did you get in to making beats together?
M:We where both total novices when we started Subreachers, so no.
T:We actually started fooling around in Ableton just out of boredom in between some home DJ sessions. Matthias and me knew each other from back in high school, after we changed schools we both went a different way and it wasn’t until a few years later we met up for some drinks. We started talking and found out we were loving the same music; after some home sessions we decided we were going to start doing Subreachers.
M:At that time we didn’t have a name or were playing any gigs. When we started making beats together one of them got airplay on national radio in the now cancelled show Baselab. We didn’t have a name for ourselves so it was due to that event we had to come up with something really quick.
T:Come to think of it before I got into dubstep, I was making weird disco/house edits. I own a lot of old records and I used to have hours of fun cutting those up and making edits with a tape deck.
M:Eventually when we got serious about making beats it picked up for us. Our first release on Medschool will be out next week and our debut 12" should hit shelfs sometime soon.
H: What are the advantages, in your opinion, to working as a production duo?
T:For us it’s the amount of work you can get done faster.
M: We make tracks together but we also produce tracks on our own, that way we can put out a large amount of tunesconstantly. When one of us isn’t as productive for a while, the other one will kind off fill in that void.
H: There’s a real diversity to your production, does this reflect a wide range of influences?
T & M: We certainly have alot of influences.
T:House/techno certainly for me is a big part of that influence. Especially Chicago and Detroit are two of my main influences. The amount of soul put in those records is sometimes jaw-dropping.
M: But it’s not the only influence. Jazz, ambient, drum & bass and so much more also has a strong influence on us.
T:We listen to a lot of music and pick up anything that strikes our ear. If a day had 48 Hours we would probably spend 46 hours of that day just listening to beats.
H:Given the range in your production what, do you think, is the defining characteristic of your tunes?
T: Atmosphere, we always work hard on creating an atmosphere.
M: Be it a dark or soulful one, that changes in every tune. But tunes that don’t do something to people (even if it annoys them) don’t serve a purpose. For us tunes need to create a certain feeling when you hear them.
H: Are there any tunes in your production repertoire that particularly stick out for you? Why is this?
M: We’re still learning every day so we can’t really agree on what is the best one is, up to date. Every tune we make is different and therefore it’s almost impossible to decide on which is the best one.
T:But Elysian Fields sticks out, not because we think it’s the best, just because it was the first drum & bass tune we did and it instantly got signed to Medschool.
M:The way we like our own tunes changes throughout time, for now I would say Foundationsticks out the most.
T:It portraits the soulful side of our productions really well, and the elements we used in that tune really stick out.
H: We’re aware of nights like Midnite Run, pushing the deeper side of things in Belgium; what’s your take on the Belgian bass scene – is it lively?
T:Belgian bass scene is OK, the past year a lot of young people came on the scene who like deep sounds and want to push it. Of course there’s always constants like Untitled! and Daily Dubstep who push things on a bigger scale, which is great because they helped to put Belgium on the map in bass country.
M:But it’s also nice to see some smaller promoters take the chance of pushing deep nights. The scene is pretty lively but also very tight, most producers/DJs/promoters know each other. We like it that way though.
H: Can you take us through how you went about putting together a tracklist for the mix.
T: Improvising is key for when we do mixes, we don’t work by set tracklists and just do what feels good at the time
H: Any plans in the pipe-line or forthcomings you'd like to put the word out about?
T & M:We've got a 12 inch dropping somewhere around June, we can’t really tell you too much about it but we’re really happy with it! There’s also another 12 inch dropping sometime this year with two collabs by ourselves and Antics on Orientis Records. Furthermore we got our release on Medschool Newblood011 dropping next week and a release on Embassy records somewhere this year.
As mentioned in last month's feature with Goli & Ashburner, For The Win Records have put out a collection of 13 tunes from artists appearing on the label for free as a showcase of the diversity presented by the label aswell as of each producer's individual approach.
M: But it’s also nice to see some smaller promoters take the chance of pushing deep nights. The scene is pretty lively but also very tight, most producers/DJs/promoters know each other. We like it that way though.
