Waste Mail 019: June's best music 🔥
Digitised euphoria, electrocuted trance, avant garde pop & golden hour r'n'b
Welcome to Waste Mail, the newsletter that’s dedicated to cutting-edge club music and is written by Seb Wheeler for Tropical Waste 🔥
It’s Brat summer! But also a fertile season for other avant garde pop music that’s rooted in club and underground culture, as new releases from feeo, Dawuna, TAALIAH, Iceboy Violet x Nueen, Princess Xixi and BbyMutha prove.
If you’re looking for club bangers then try out the new split single from TSVI and DJ Babatr, which sees the two producers on raging form, and other releases/mixes from Ship Sket, DJ Swisha and Manami.
I’ve also started folding in a few releases that aren’t strictly club but are no less experimental or riotous than this newsletter deserves: Lankum, Kee Avil and Kevin Martin x KMRU all come through with experimentalism that runs parallel to the cutting-edge dancefloor.
Enjoy the selections and out to everyone in the UK who’s voting against 14 years of Tory austerity, corruption and phony culture wars today 🙏🏻
Photo: Jeneen at the controls, Tropical Waste x Hypnic Jerks, May 3, Ormside
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Tracks & EPs 🔌
Charli xcx ‘Everything is romantic’ The new Charli album grabs the current Tumblrcore/indie sleaze revival and sends it kicking and screaming through the lens of hyperpop. ‘Everything is romantic’ is my favourite example of that, where the sentimental beauty of a mediterranean holiday (imagine disposable camera photos uploaded to Myspace circa 2006) is smashed together with the kind of post-modern production you want melting your face off in a club right now Listen
INVT & Introspekt - Tectónica Heavyweight collab from Miami’s INVT and LA’s Introspekt on ec2a, the label named after an East London postcode. It’s a combination that delivers three tracks of darkside bass weight that reflects the sonic influences of this geographical trifecta Listen
Princess Xixi ‘work me up’ Fwd-thinking pop out of LDN as Princess Xixi goes emo over a killer jungle-footwork beat by CA$TLE. The music video also features two of the capital’s leading footwork dancers, Tiger and Malt Beverage. Sick! Listen
RP Boo & Armand Hammer ‘Blood Running High’ More crossover footwork! Chicago OG RP Boo and rap duo Armand Hammer get the keys to Sun Ra’s ‘Blood Running High’, reworking it into a fierce afrofuturist anthem that contrasts reality with dreams of footworking across the astral plane Listen
Ship Sket ‘England as a Succubus’ Post-everything club music from a producer who originally hails from North Dorset (extra respect for having survived the countryside). This EP is full of deconstructed drama and digitised euphoria, the kind of blown-out dancefloor noise you’d expect from Bristol’s Illegal Data label Listen
TAALIAH ‘Boys’ A hyperpop hit for summer from TAAHLIAH, who encapsulates the heat and horniness of high June in just under three minutes. The peak-time squelch of electroclash is elevated by intricate sound design that’d make this sound particularly good among the lasers Listen
TSVI & DJ Babatr ‘Split 1’ TraTraTrax unveils a split single series with TSVI and Babatr on the buttons for the first installment. Italian stallion TSVI offloads an electro-techno ripper before handing over to a particularly cathartic raptor house joyride from Venezuela’s Babatr, whose trademark electrocuted trance riffs run wilder than ever before Listen
Verraco ‘Breathe… Godspeed’ Verraco has come through with the record of the year, again. ‘Breathe…’ follows up 2023’s phenomenal ‘Escándaloo’, further refining the Colombian producer’s signature style and providing exhilarating new forms of club music Listen
Violet Indigo ‘Violet Indigo (Re)Mixed, Vol 1’ Violet Indigo is a rising Parisian artist who clearly has great taste in dance music. This neat remix package comes loaded with standout versions from DJ Earl and Feadz Listen
Albums & Compilations 💿
Actress ‘Statik’ As time goes on, each Actress album feels like a new neighbourhood plotted onto the map of his soundworld. I imagine ‘Statik’ to be his version of dawn breaking across the the AZD zones; as the white noise of darkness recedes, a bumpin’ groove and the flicker of a melody appear. Light dancing during the first hour of the morning Listen
BbyMutha ‘sleep paralysis’ BbyMutha’s never been afraid to ride cutting-edge club music and here she skips across breaks ‘n bass with ease, rapping nonchalantly over frenetic mutations. At 31 mins this album is short, sharp and urgent Listen
Dawuna ‘Southside Bottoms’ A tender and introspective set of songs from Dawuna, whose golden hour r’n’b has been the talk of The Underground for a minute. Imagine a gorgeous distillation of Prince-esque funk, whispered beat poetry and lofi bedroom pop and you’re basically there (out through Geng’s ever brilliant and resolutely independent PTP) Listen
DJ Manny & TCJ ‘THE LOST HIGHWAY’ Surprise drop (and an official release via Teklife) from DJ Manny and TCJ, an NYC producer who’s new to me. Contains a generous amount of spacey, sci-fi footwork that further adds to Manny’s current rich run of form Listen
feeo ‘run over’ Saw feeo support Tirzah at Roundhouse recently and really enjoyed the haze of soft ambient that was summoned into the late spring evening. This record was released around that time, the latest Bandcamp offering from a songwriter whose avant pop blurs electronic/organic in mesmerising ways Listen
Iceboy Violet & Nueen ‘You Said You’d Hold My Hand Through The Fire’ Manchester’s Iceboy links up with Barcelona’s Nueen for an album on Hyperdub, placing Iceboy’s cathartic lyricism in softer, more vulnerable sonic spaces than it has been before. The result is mellower but no less deep or powerful Listen
Kee Avil ‘Spine’ A while ago I realised it’s chill to be into club tracks and guitars at the same time so have been re-indulging my love of heavy band music. It’s hard to find good new post rock but this LP of minimalist riffs, electronic textures and off-kilter lyricism hits the spot (out via Constellation so you know it’s legit) Listen
KRM & KMRU ‘Disconnect’ Powerful ambient from Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin and KMRU, who has been revitalising experimental electronic music for a minute now. On paper it’s a heavyweight collab and the results out of the studio don’t disappoint: ‘Disconnect’ is programmed to sound like a long, deep meditation, where one undulating composition blends into the next, like lines of swell forming in the ocean before crashing onto the shore Listen
Lankum ‘Live In Dublin’ Great live recording of post-folk band Lankum, made across three nights of shows in their home city. I’m late to the party, having only just got into them via their recent fourth album ‘False Lankum’, but I’m drawn to their slow, intricate dirge like a moth to a flame. This record mainlines the dirge, accompanied by some cracking on-stage banter too Listen
Royo ‘The Lost Tapes’ 20-track beat tape from the South Texas producer/DJ. One for the DJs (and heads) searching for under-the-rader club cuts that riff on various US club styles, breakbeat science and UK/US rap instrumentals 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 🎧
DJ Flight - RA.942 A sleek drum ‘n’ bass workout from one of the masters, DJ Flight. Dive in for a blend of liquid funk and metallic, screwface rollers Listen
DJ Lag at Lente Kabinet 2024 A masterful session from the gqom pioneer at Lente Kabinet, the Dutch festival that seems to be going from strength to strength as each summer passes. Lag is an internationally recognised touring DJ, yet his sets never get any less fierce or frenetic Listen
DJ Swisha - Kiosk Radio x Lot Radio x Horst I often think of Elijah’s ‘DJs are music journalists’ yellow square. It definitely contextualises this live recording of DJ Swisha, the Philadelphia-born DJ who has lived in LA and New York and champions regional North American club music. Deep in the Belgian countryside he draws for Philly, Baltimore and Jersey Club, Chicago Juke and plenty of the records that he’s produced while working at the vanguard of the LA and NYC scenes. It’s a portal to a kind of dancefloor that many Horst attendees probably haven’t experienced before and, as you can see from the YouTube stream, they lap it up accordingly Listen
DJ Winggold - Mission London Rate how unpredictable Winggold’s sets are. Could be nails techno played across three decks, could be bass mutations that beg for the reload. This session goes in on experimental bass music, neo-dubstep and fierce rap, as well as a couple bangers from the new Iglooghost album Listen
Interplanetary Criminal b2b Main Phase - All Night Long at Wire Loving the speed garage revival that just keeps on going in the UK. Reminds me of going raving for the first time, always being front left, eternal Friday nights and the pure kind of optimism that the best dance music inspires. Was intrigued to lock in to this four-hour recording of ICP and Main Phase and didn’t leave disappointed; come for the rolling tech house and stay for the undeniable UKG wobble Listen
Manami - The Mix 018 Manami steps up for Mixmag’s new flagship The Mix series and shells out broken techno, bass-heavy acid, new school 140 concoctions and some speedier bits too. Great session from a DJ-to-watch Listen
Rupture w/ Mantra & Double O - NTS The first installment of the new Rupture residency on NTS, featuring a grab bag of brand new jungle and some brilliant hosting and toasting too. Highly recommended Listen
Tash LC b2b Mia Koden live at Gala Festival Instant recommendation for these two legends going round for round and dropping low-end dance music designed to make your waist wind. The real sound of summer! Listen
With Love from Tropical Waste ✌️
Stepped up to the controls of Kindred to drop a mix of 130-160 club music. Watch now