Welcome to Waste Mail, the newsletter that’s dedicated to cutting-edge club music and is written by Seb Wheeler on behalf of Tropical Waste 🔥
30 December 2023. The final roll of the dice.
Music and mixes have continued to drop throughout the month and there’s a bunch of stuff that you need to know about before the New Year kicks in.
Pair this mailer of strictly new music with Waste Mail’s End Of Year List, which was sent a week ago as a festive bonus round.
See you on the other side!
Dedicated to anyone who likes dancing to weird shit 💖
Photo: DJ Earl jamming at NTS, December ‘23
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Tracks & EPs 🔌
Bitter Gold ‘SHELL’ This EP hits the sweet spot of heavy ambient, urgent warehouse party music and sheer noise. One for the heads who want to go further Listen
Bluetoof ‘INFA004’ Tripped-out, acidy, subterranean UK techno wormholes across five uncompromising tracks Listen
Dayzero ‘Bare Brain EP’ Psychedelic soundsystem music out on avant club imprint Nostro Hood System Listen
DJ MELL G ‘ISSUES’ (Manuka Honey remix) Manuka Honey strips it back to the raw essentials with this remix, honing in on muscular rhythms to create a potent DJ tool Listen
Flex Blur ‘Vitesse EP’ Flex Blur rides hard for footwork and here the French producer turns out a handful of really fun 160 productions Listen
Hojo feat Novelist ‘16 O’s’ Great to hear Nov spitting on grimey techno again. Hojo refreshes the template by building a rolling, forceful instrumental that would slap at both Outlook and Tresor Listen
Jawnino ‘2trains’ Low-key rap genius Jawnino has signed to True Panther so hopefully this marks the start of more new music Listen
julek ploski ‘yes, oh my god’ One more track from Poland’s hyperpop superhero before the year is out, and it’s full of epic strings and high drama, like fireworks at midnight on New Year’s Eve Listen
K1RA ‘Cerebalis EP’ Slow, stuttering, explosive club music that works the tension between clean, icy melodies and throttling bass. Reminiscent of Sami Baha, Endgame and that lane of mid 2010s URL/IRL club Listen
Lurka ‘Trip’ Bumpin’, funky, minimalist UK techno from a Bristol producer who never, ever misses Listen
Mia Koden ‘Decode’ The best dubstep is chill and menacing all at the same time. Mia Koden nails the combo, bringing heavy basslines to the boil in a mean atmosphere that sounds like the very dead of night Listen
Mor Elian ‘Glue Kit’ Really into this trippy techno party music that Mor Elian and Rhyw are making and releasing via Fever AM Listen
PinkPantheress ‘Feel Complete’ (Karen Nyame KG remix) KG follows up on her brilliant Kelela remix with a seductive, ethereal reimagining of PinkPantheress. 10 on 10 Listen
SLACK 1NE ‘Baile Turbo’ A hybrid club track from the Naarm-based producer, who fuses grime, baile funk and video game music together Listen
Albums & Compilations 💿
Aleroj ‘ALEROJ CUwUllaboration Pacc 2k24’ Aleroj sees out the year by dropping an album of collabs with producers who also enjoy splicing and dicing cumbia, guaracha, juke and hardcore. The results are fierce, fast and fluroescent Listen
Dance Maniacs ‘Built Like That’ Tuff, sample-heavy US club trax from the Juke Bounce Werk label. DJs - don’t sleep! Listen
DJ Babatr ‘Raptor House 2023’ DJ Babatr was clearly this year’s breakthrough DJ and I was lucky enough to catch one of his high energy shows at Unsound in October. Here he closes out ‘23 by putting together a compilation of raptor house bangers from himself and his peers and it obviously bangs Listen
do you have peace? ‘ALWAYS + FOREVER’ Jabu’s label offers up a comp of “spectral hypnagogic gear” featuring a new, dubby collab between Waste Mail fav Hermeneia and Zaumme. Elsewhere there’s intimate ambient, cosy dream pop and minimalist post punk – perfect clobber for winter hibernation Listen
Felix Lee ‘Skullstepper’ A new chapter for Felix Lee. Here’s an album of post-indie that combines the dusky intimacy of bedroom recordings with the frenetic immediacy of his previous work as a club music producer Listen
LOL Editions ‘LOLTRAX001’ If you assumed that ‘LOLTRAX’ was going to be some kind of net music, you’d be right. Manchester crew LOL Editions drops a great algoravey comp featuring Robin Fox, Kingdohm, Ellen Phan and Dan Valentine out of Rainer Veil, among others Listen
Maloca ‘Maloca, Vol 2’ Le Motel curates a new compilation for his Maloca label out of Brussels. There are 17 tracks from the likes of De Grandi, Bambounou, DJ JM and NVST and each presents a different meditation on rhythm ‘n bass that would sound good on a big system in a small, dark room Listen
Otik ‘Cosmosis’ An album of beautifully-produced astral dance music out via Martyn’s label Listen
Ultima Esuna ‘Frondoso’ An EP about adapting to a new place and celebrating the changes that come with uprooting. For Ultima Esuna, this is reflected in warm, finely-crafted techno that unfurls with all the little rhythmic intricacies of everyday life Listen
The Waste List 🚨
The Waste List playlist includes all of the artists that are featured here and is updated every month alongside each new issue of Waste Mail
DJ Mixes 🎧
Anz - Piano Tunes Vol. 4 60 minutes of much-needed euphoria from Anz. Couldn’t have come at a better time tbf Listen
Dane Bradshaw - Soho Radio Dane’s been a friend of Tropical Waste since he used to send me Butterz promos back in 2010 (these WordPress links run deep). He’s also one of my favourite DJs and here he lays down his favourite tracks of 2023 across two hours, with the first half devoted to amapiano and the second to underground house, broken beat, bass music and other forms of international club music Listen
Florentino - RA. 912 Florentino celebrates his brilliant EP for XL by turning in a frenetic mix for RA, spotlighting his own productions as well as the records influencing his sound and approach Listen
Dogheadsurigeri @ UNFOLD LXIII Unfold has become a rite of passage for London’s rising techno / techno-adjacent DJs with every artist bringing their A-game to the hallowed Sunday party’s booth. Check out Dogheadsurigeri’s face-melting two-hour session for an example of how things go down Listen
Hipsters Don’t Dance - NTS Don’t mug yourself. Listen to HDD’s essential annual round-up before the New Year kicks in Listen
Lockhart - FFS166 Lockhart makes 60 minutes fly during this heavy session of breaks, bass and rave chaos. Big, stuttering rhythms rattle the ribs before a sprint finish of gun-finger ‘ardcore Listen
Martyn & Om Unit - Lot Radio Two dons roll up their sleeves and get into it, dropping dark garage, OG dubstep and bumpin’ techno. Perfect way to see out the year after their excellent collab EP in April Listen
Nightwave electro set Nightwave’s Nightrave party recently turned 10 (!) with a knees-up at Glasgow’s sick basement venue La Cheetah. DJ Stingray was the special guest and Nightwave turned out a two-hour electro set that’s online now Listen
Roska - Lot Radio From the Wu-Tang edit to the Paigons cap, Roska brings a taste of LDN to NYC. The UK funky godfather rolls out an hour of new rhytmic, low-end heat, obviously Listen
Seyer - Dublab Was a pleasure to host LA’s Fast At Work crew on the Tropical Waste radio show back in the summer. Here, FAW member Seyer steps up solo to the Dublab controls to deliver a session of forward-thinking electronic and club music that’s bang on the money Listen
Stolen Velour - TANK Mix Brilliant blend of warped, hyperactive and
deconstructedclub music from a producer/DJ who always refuses to take the linear route ListenSurusinghe - Boiler Room Surusinghe’s had a proper breakthrough year and tops it off with a ‘uge Boiler Room back home in Naarm. Strap in for a ferocious mix of souped-up, bass-heavy club music Listen
Tash LC at Dekmantel Festival 2023 Get it locked to the recording of Tash LC’s debut performance at Dekmantel (about time too!) It’s an hour and 45 of sweat, rhythm and cheeky ad libs on then mic Listen
With Love From Tropical Waste ✌️
Our recent NTS session with DJ Earl and Big Dope P made it to Mixmag’s Best Mixes Of The Year
Watch Big Dope P’s mix for Blind Spot x Tropical Waste on Reprezent on YouTube here
Watch Seb’s mix for Blind Spot x Tropical Waste on Reprezent on YouTube here
Our next party will be in London on Friday February 23