Waste Mail 017: April's best music 🔥
Rhythmic heat, ravey mutations, ecstatic gqom & hypnagogic funk
Welcome to Waste Mail, the newsletter that’s dedicated to cutting-edge club music and is written by Seb Wheeler for Tropical Waste 🔥
A little while ago I did an interview about the new wave of mailers and said that “newsletters are punk”. Well, what’s more punk than sending April’s round-up near the end of May?!
Disorganised? Probably. Essential? Most definitely. Never one to let you down, read on for a ton of great new club music. Some of it you may have caught up with already, a bunch of it has most definitely flown under the radar, so get your Bandcamp wishlist and your SoundCloud likes fired up.
May’s edition of Waste Mail is already being compiled and will go out on time. Better late than never, right?
You can also check some recordings from our party with Hypnic Jerks on May 3 (IG highlights here) as well as a 100% brand new footwork mix I did for Pound And Yam.
Keep digging. See you again very soon.
Dedicated to anyone who likes dancing to weird shit 💖
Photo: Dancers in the smoke at Tropical Waste x Hypnic Jerks, May 3, Ormside
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Tracks & EPs 🔌
Brick Sweat Records ‘Footwork Files’ The Manchester label drops a mini comp of footwork and mutant 160 that starts in Chicago with DJ Manny and EQ Why and spans contributions from other parts of North America and Europe. Some certified DJ tools inside, especially EQ Why’s battle track ‘Lost (Part 2)’ Listen
D’TCH ‘Sweat EP’ Hooversound continues to drop wildly imaginative hybrid rave music. Here’s four tracks for Bristol’s D’TCH, which revel in a fusion of ‘ardcore, jungle, tekno, grime and juke. ‘Ay!’, a grimey 160 banger, sounded particularly good at Tropical Waste the other night Listen
Ikonika ‘Details’ Ikonika continues her vocal era on Night Slugs. The title track ripples with seductive energy while remixes from Bok Bok, Girl Unit and Aryu Jessika keep the grown ‘n sexy vibe rolling Listen
Kill Team SCX ‘King Of The Iron Fist’ Scarlett Star and Grifter160 have been putting out inventive takes on footwork for a minute and this link up with Poison Jr. as Kill Team SCX delivers a battle track loaded with cathartic verses from Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire and LEX Nyre. The world needs more rap 160! Listen
Mia Koden ‘34U’ Mia Koden dropped a fire production mix (below) then asked her fans which beats they wanted full versions of. Three new tracks emerge on ‘34U’, including the slinky, groove-y ‘Wait A Minute’, which is a prime example of Mia’s fwd» approach to dubstep Listen
Royo & El Blanco Niño ‘EYEZ’ A hit of ethereal club music that wraps Baltimore and Jersey influences in synth tones that are soft as a cloud. Runs at 150bpm and is a neat little DJ tool - tip! Listen
Scratchclart ‘DRMTRK XXVII_Dark’ Scratcha’s collab with Mez and Skream, out last January, was one of the club tracks of the year. The follow up, with Mez, Jammz and Mxshi Mo, is just as good, blending up grime and gqom with ecstatic results. The rest of the stuff on this EP (split between ‘light’ and ‘dark’ versions) is equally exciting – check out the Trim collab too Listen
Suzi Analogue & Jlin ‘NICE 2 MEET U’ Completely mind-boggling collab from the forthcoming Suzi Analogue mixtape. This is no-holds-barred footwork for people who like their music to be zapped in from the future of rhythm Listen
TT ‘Poundcloud’ TT goes to the furthest reaches of the internet/SoundCloud and brings back four gems for this mini comp. Check it for 57snakestep’s codeine sludge and XU LAI and FLOCO’s post-emo Listen
Ziyiz ‘Maul Rheo’ Twisted-metal club music powered by flubberised basslines on REMADE, which specialises in promoting the intersection of sound design and pure bangers. This is a powerful statement of intent from Ziyiz, who’s also been active on NYC’s Kindergarten label Listen
Albums & Compilations 💿
DJ Anderson do Paraiso ‘Queridão’ I’ve always thought of baile funk as pure maximalism – bass, vocals, whizzing FX – but this repositions it as minimal and mournful, a kind of hypnagogic funk for those calmer moments away from the chaos of the dancefloor. Also a reminder to dig deeper into this vast and exciting genre Listen
bela ‘Noise And Cries’ I saw bela twice in the space of a year – at Unsound Krakow and The Old Hairdresser’s in Glasgow – and both performances were intense, visceral and spellbinding. This album, a co-release between Unsound and Subtext, reflects the live experience; a blast furnace of death metal screams and raw, piercing percussion, along with some brief moments of calm before the storm begins again Listen
DJ Rashad feat DJ Thadz & DJ Clent ‘The Juke Project’ A ‘lost’ DJ mix from Rashad, with collab credits from Thadz and Clent, has been re-issued and re-mastered for DSPs (real spotters will have noticed it on Bandcamp since last autumn). It looks like it dates back to the late 90s/early 00s, judging by baby-faced Rashad on the cover, and is a blast throughout. It’s also kind of outrageous that this was released so long ago because the music is raw, urgent and ingenious, and would definitely still stand up today. An instant spin for footwork heads and anyone into next-level dance music Listen
Guests ‘“I Wish I Was Special”’ Awesome lofi jams from Glasgow, written and recorded (presumably) during sessions in a bedroom or living room, and combining concrete poetry, off-kilter electronics, gauzy melodies and plenty of tape hiss Listen
Hidden Rhythms ‘All Pleasure No Pressure Vol. 1’ Label out of Nantes puts together a comp that aims to “push further the limits of club music” which sounds like a great manifesto to me. Slippery rhythms, jolts of low end and late nite, industrial sound design connect these eight tracks, which are a fine bounty for intrepid dancers / DJs looking for a curveball Listen
Leonce ‘System Of Objects’ A short album of quick, muscular, joyous techno from a producer who’s been embedded in the club music scene (and providing DJs with countless secret weapons) for a long time. These tracks are built to perfection; smooth and groovy, with percussion that never lets your feet stand still Listen
MISFYA ‘MISFYA’S VAULT’ MISFYA zips up a bunch of tracks made between 2022-24 that’s perfect for anyone into big, bold ravey mutations. DJs and dancers alike should check this Listen
Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers ‘Izigqinamba’ Nyege Nyege is on a roll atm and this is another essential listen. A collaboration out of Durban between Phelimuncasi and Metal Preyers which warps the boundaries of gqom as well as the wider template of dance and electronic music. Check in for head-spinning song arrangements and some stunning vocal performances 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 🎧
Architect - Foundation FM Architect’s part of the Suzio and Prestige Pak crews, which means he’s regularly playing the best parties in LDN. When he’s not hosting his Slap City show on NTS or rolling out low-tempo workouts on the likes of All Centre, you’ll find him doing guest slots like this two-hour presentation of on-point, party-starting club music Listen
BFTT - NTS Guitars are back! Club music will never die! Find both in abundance in the blends of BFTT, who’s currently celebrating the release of a brilliant new EP Listen
Beatrice M. - Mixmag Beatrice M. is one of the new dubstep vanguard, running the Bait label and party out of Paris. This session for Mixmag goes properly deep, grinding up the spirit of Lee Perry and Skull Disco in order to deliver huge hits of head-spinning, psychedelic bass Listen
Bell Curve - SWU.FM Cracking mix of 160+ dance music that fizzes with energy and moves across footwork, d’n’b, bass mutations and some cool halftime stuff in the latter half, including some brilliant Bell Curve productions Listen
BLUMITSU - BLUMITSU X UNFOLD LXIX 11.02.24 The intro to this live recording from Sunday techno temple UNFOLD will make your hair stand on end. It gives way to two hours of techno and electro-tinged propulsion concocted by the BLUMITSU scientists Listen
CA$TLE w/ DJ SPINN - Subtle Radio Great to see DJ Spinn back in the UK after a minute. Spinn blesses us with a fierce selection of footwork, while CA$TLE sets things up really nicely with a mix of his own brilliant 160bpm productions - tip! Listen
Mia Koden ‘Made by Mia Koden Vol. 2’ A 100% production mix from the new-school 140 luminary, which has resulted in a fan-voted EP of fresh tracks. This whole thing is full of whomp, groove and percussion that’ll make you want to wind your waist. Mia Koden is a scene leader for a reason Listen
Saint Ludo - Boiler Room Ludo is the Italian DJ whose rude UKG and bassline selections have turned her into one of the pied pipers of the UK’s wobbly, low-end renaissance. Lock in for fast, fluorescent bassline and grimey garage Listen
The Tim & Barry Show w/ DJ Spinn - NTS Tim & Barry (and Crackstevens) produced one of the early documentaries on Chicago footwork, travelling over from London to meet the Windy City artists who were breaking onto the world stage. This reunion is obviously a must-listen Listen
THEMPRESS - Voices Radio Rhythmic heat ‘n intensity on this recent radio show from THEMPRESS, which’ll leave you gasping for air while drawing for Shazam. The DJ/community organiser has also just co-founded Bumpah, a QTIPOC-centered ‘bass rave’ that, judging by its first line-up, is set to become a launchpad for DJs/artists operating in the zone between experimentalism and low-end Listen
Live From Tropical Waste 🔊
Jeneen came through to the party and dropped a perfect set of juke and footwork. Pure joy and energy on the floor!
What should the end of the night sound like? As hype as peak time in my opinion. Here’s my closing b2b with Hypnic Jerks label co-founder and A&R Tom Moon, where we go from 135-160bpm and keep the strobes going all the way to lights up
Tropical Waste x Pound And Yam ⚡️
60 minutes of brand new footwork heat for Pound And Yam, one of my favourite YouTube channels / mix platforms
Next party ✌️
Tropical Waste returns in September. We’ll start teasing it later in the summer 👀
Great stuff 👌🏾