Waste Mail 020: July's best music 🔥
A truly international round-up of cutting-edge club music
Welcome to Waste Mail, the newsletter that’s dedicated to cutting-edge club music and is written by Seb Wheeler for Tropical Waste 🔥
This month it’s a truly international issue: Ecstatic Baltimore Club, Baile Funk mutations, charged New York rave, Polish ambient, post-club soundscapes from Egypt, frenetic Uwuaracha, Chicago footwork, Amapiano… The list could go on.
Music, of course, crosses borders, creates dialogue, shares culture, fosters solidarity and mutual respect. That feels especially important right now.
Hope you enjoy this month’s selections. I have a feeling there’s a couple tracks of the year below, and the rich run of albums that 2024 has been enjoying continues.
I recently had the pleasure of writing the text for Dogheadsurigeri’s single ‘Hyperdrive’. It would be remiss of me to review it below, so I’m mentioning it here instead. Check it out if you like exhilarating trance/techno hybrids.
And the date of the next Tropical Waste party has been set: a 160 special with guests from Hyperdub, Moveltraxx and Hooversound on September 27. Excited to be back in the dance at Ormside.
Photo: Faheezy at the controls of Tropical Waste back in May. You can listen to his deep, dubby warm-up set below
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Tracks & EPs 🔌
A.Fruit & Itoa ‘Slow Teleport EP’ Big collab on Hong Kong’s Unchained label, which sees A.Fruit and Itoa roll out darkside 160 that catalyses footwork, autonomic d’n’b and dubstep into big, rolling, low-end mutant club music Listen
BJF ‘Sirens’ BJF is an exhilarating club music producer and a leading light on France’s underground club scene. ‘Sirens’ is a three-track EP that further showcases his fusionist style, which re-energises the concept of the club construction for the 2020s. The rhythms of UK funky, baile funk and miami bass are used as the motor to drive home his lithe productions, which also come loaded with ecstatic melodic loops Listen
Carré ‘Air Sign’ Carré’s been splitting her time between making new school dubstep that pushes the form forward (and beyond the 140bpm tempo boundary) as well as timeless half-time bangers. Out on Darwin's SPE:C, this trio of tracks doubles down on the latter, which is no surprise given the label boss' taste in OG bass weight. ‘Air Sign’ retains Carre’s energetic bass pulse, before the trap door opens to ‘Fawn’ and ‘Type A/B’, two cavernous steppers featuring tight, mesmerising percussion that wouldn’t sound out of place on the DMZ catalogue Listen
DJ Phil ‘Boarding Pass | Prelude To The Flight’ DJ Rashad’s legacy is a form of footwork that is charged with energy, deep with soul and mixed and mastered to perfection by the time it hits the club. Frequent Rashad collaborator DJ Phil is one of the main torchbearers of this school of footwork, a producer who knows how to deploy a killer sample and summon the kind of vuluptuous bassline that keeps dancers going for hours on end. This EP for Moveltraxx adds to his short but sweet discography, leading with footwork flips of Chicago house (‘House Love’) and piano-driven UK breakbeat (‘Only You’), before honing in on a trio of battle tracks that really get down to business. Any of these could be a 2024 scene anthem, but the friction between a Nipsey Hustle vocal snip (f*ck I wanna hear your CD for?!) and Roy Ayers-esque keys on ‘Somethin New’ is an example of footwork’s cathartic ecstasy at its finest Listen
Doctor Jeep ‘Mecha’ Thrilling baile funk mutations from the Brazilian-American producer on TraTraTrax. Vocal chops and funk rhythms are folded into high tempo techno whirlpools, the velocity of which threatens to tear the roof off any club in which they’re played. You’ve been warned Listen
dru-1 ‘tabanca’ dru-1 demos have been road tested on Tropical Waste radio and at the parties, so I’m stoked to see this debut EP emerge on experimental club music label Yegorka (co-run by low-key legends Why Be and Dan DeNorch). ‘tabanca’ is an explosion of rhythm, drum beats and other percussive elements (played by Marta Rosa and Luca Giacobbe) that are sliced and diced into unpredictable patterns that evoke joy, rage and sensuality Listen
Hevlaran ‘We Didn’t’ With dubstep coming back into focus, I was wondering how long it’d take for someone to reference Martyn’s sleek dubstep/techno fusions, as well as the classier moments of post-dubstep. ‘We Didn’t’, from Hevlaran’s new EP on Fever AM, is a welcome throwback to those halcyon days, a whoosh of skippy drums and a classic, heart-wrenching vocal snip Listen
Jialing ‘FREAKY HORNS’ The Clasico label is doing a great job of presenting club music within a geographical context, zooming in on distinct regional styles and spotlighting what’s happening at the cutting edge. Baltimore’s Jialing comes through with two of the finest tracks of the year on this EP: straight-up B-more Club banger ‘FREAKY HORNS’ and the hella catchy ravey house workout ‘ADDY’. Watch out for grime/B-more blend ‘GET OFF MY JOGWHEEL’ too Listen
Ma Sha ‘Pull To Stop’ Been enjoying Ma Sha’s output via her Kindergarten label (as well as the rest of the imprint’s releases) and it’s great to see her stepping out on crossover dance label Steel City Dance Discs. This EP showcases her pulsating, fwd-facing sound design, leading with the technicolour breakbeat splurge of ‘Turboflow’ and getting deeper and more acidic on ‘Cerulean Rush’ Listen
Nkisi ‘The Altar’ Four new techno meditations from Nkisi, who continues to create space in which listeners (and dancers) can lock into the spiritual rhythms summoned from her drum machine Listen
Albums & Compilations 💿
2K88 ‘SHAME’ Polish producer 2k88 is embedded deep in the Polish rap scene and is also a keen student of the bass mutations of the last 10 years or so. His new album, released via Unsound, situates his own bars (‘SPEAKERZ‘) amid a cacophony of breakbeats and blown–out basslines, while instrumental tracks take on a range of uncanny, speaker–melting forms. These dark, ghostly riddims join the spectral bass continuum of Modern Love, Ilian Tape, Kevin Martin and Burial, and are, given last year's Unsound performance, absolutely devastating in a live setting too Listen
Antonina Nowacka ‘Sylphine Soporifera’ Pastoral ambient that sets a mood with delicate strings before Nowacka’s voice comes sweeping in. The sweet calm of the countryside is invoked by instruments and noise makers from Italy, Mexico and Nepal Listen
Ben Hauke ‘Club Cute’ Deep into summertime here in the UK so the timing for ‘Club Cute’, a “love letter to club culture” arrives for those days where you just wanna throw open the windows and rinse out some low end. There are some silky smooth takes on broken beat, funky, UKG and new school neo soul, with guest appearances from Katy B, Goya Gumbani and Shy One. It’s headsy, stylish dance music for those who frequent the dancefloors of Eglo, Worldwide and Touching Bass, the latter of which has stepped up to release the LP Listen
De Schuurman ‘Bubbling Forever’ Another trove of bubbling bangers from Dutch scene leader De Schuurman, who delivers raw drum beats and monster synth riffs (‘Ayaa’) alongside tracks that are altogether more playful, like the mash-up of old-skool rap and calypso on ‘Stylez two’ Listen
DJ Corey & King Agee presents ‘4 The Streets Vol 3’ DJ Corey, son of footwork godfather DJ Clent, and King Agee, a main player on the Chicago scene (see last year’s We Are Chicago Footwork Vol 1) have linked up to put together another compilation of current footwork talent. It’s a heavyweight affair with Clent, Corey, Agee, DJ Earl, DJ Mc, DJ Roc, Rashad’s son DJ Chad, DJ Amaris, DJ T-Rell and DJ Solo all contributing multiple tracks each. It comes via Clent’s long-running Beatdown House imprint and folds in Corey, Agee and Chad’s Nu Legendz crew, further mapping footwork’s post-lockdown renaissance Listen
MoMa Ready & Regal86 ‘The Trax’ MoMa Ready’s hi-tech soul meets Regal86’s lowrider techno on this surprise collab album. You can hear MoMa’s astral synths and deep basslines go to work with Regal’s raw, spankin’ percussion across 10 jackin’ tracks that are so hot they don’t even have titles yet Listen
The Body & Dis Fig ‘Orchards of a Futile Heaven’ I knew this collab album was on the way but totally missed its release a couple months ago. Club/noise provocateur Dis Fig links up with doom duo The Body to create towering armageddoncore. Fans of heavy music will revel in this particular blast furnace Listen
TT ‘TT 10: A Place Outside Time’ Congrats to TT for 10 years of hits! The London label has dedicated itself to experimental club music with a restless energy and enthusiasm over the last decade. This celebratory comp is a nice lil victory lap, featuring Iceboy Violet on an amapiano beat (!), a cinematic club cut from object blue and a lofi song from Organ Tapes’ iPhone recordings archive (the 2020s equivalent of taping a demo to a mixtape?!) Here’s to the next 10 Listen
Zuli ‘Lambda’ New album from Zuli, throughout which the Egyptian producer processes vocals in different ways as the basis for distorted post-club soundscapes. The use of voice gives Zuli’s cathartic production style a new, softer layer and the LP run time allows him to take his time building suspense and delivering release 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 🎧
CRRDR b2b Aleroj (Godfathers Of Uwuaracha) - Keep Hush A frenetic set from two Colombian DJs from who style themselves as the Latincore Kings. Imagine Bangface in Bogotá and you’re just about there. But the tongue-in-cheek name comes with a serious mission: their collab album ‘Godfathers Of Uwuaracha’ presents a new form of turbo dance music, which smashes together Colombian Guaracha with fluorescent rave elements and is out via their label MUAKK Listen
DBN Gogo - Reprezent Amapiano is ridiculously stylish isn’t it? Just so smooth with the bubbling percussion that gives way to those rib-rattling basslines. DBN Gogo drops an hour of sophisticated ‘piano (is there any other type?!), gliding across the driving rhythms and melodic flourishes that have got everyone hooked on the sound Listen
Death Is Not The End ‘Soundsystems at Notting Hill Carnival ‘84-’88’ Death Is Not The End celebrates 10 years on NTS by issuing a bunch of archival recordings to cassette (and accompanying D/L). This one features recordings from NH Carnival during the 80s and is a portal to a golden age of UK soundsystem culture. Worth checking especially for the dancehall toasting, with a line-up of different MCs appearing throughout Listen
IDKRYAN - Club South Mix Club South has started a mix series spotlighting DJs in and around Houston and this selection from IDKRYAN mixes up Baltimore and Jersey Club, vogue and raw house music. The mix also serves as a snapshot of what you might hear at IDKRYAN’s party, Track ID, which platforms new DJs in Houston Listen
Jana Rush - NTS Footwork from the frontline as Chicago OG Jana Rush hurtles through a tracklist featuring 160’s finest: Earl, Manny, Phil, Big Dope P, Traxman and Rashad. Things begin on a juke tip then expand into the realm of footwork, where time expands and contracts and you’ve only got your dance moves to help keep up. Also some bits from names I haven’t come across before, like OJ, WRK.DAT and Geto Mark, and a new one from DJ Hank, ‘WYAWI’, which might be my fave of the mix Listen
Neffa T - fabric podcast A fierce session from multi-deck maestro Neffa T, blending up angular grime and techno to create a kind of bass-heavy brutalism, all hard surfaces and abstract shapes. He also relishes the tension between 4/4 tekkers and choppy, wobbly, grimey bangers, something I imagine would go off on the dancefloors of Dekmantel, Draaimolen and Horst, where crowds are as obsessed with kick drum energy as they are UK bass culture Listen
Randall, Mickey Finn, Kenny Ken, Darren J - AWOL: A Way Of Life - Live I’ve been moved by tributes to the jungle and d’n’b OG Randall, who passed away at the end of July. One of the raves where he made his name in the early 90s was AWOL, which took place at Paradise Club in Islington, and was renowned for its heavy sound and frenetic atmosphere. This recording will take you to the heart of that dancefloor, amid the endless blaring of horns and relentless jolts of futuristic bass. Randall’s section is smooth as you like, the mind-melting intensity increasing with every drop Listen
Tehmeena - Kiosk Radio Hell yeah I’m going in on a mix that whips together the likes of DJ Swisha, Charli xcx and JIALING. DJ/radio host/club music champion Tehmeena joins the dots between global club styles, creating a selection that fizzes with energy from start to finish (and is also perfect for diggers and ID seekers) Listen
TSVI - RA.944 TSVI has quietly become club music royalty of the back of his innovative productions and fwd-thinking curation of Nervous Horizon, the label he runs with Wallwork. This is where he’s at as an in-demand club DJ, turning out a focused, propulsive selection that slowly but surely increases in intensity Listen
Live from Tropical Waste 🔊
A recording of Faheezy’s warm-up set from our party back in May. Gets the ‘floor going with deep, dubwise selections: dub, dubstep and dub techno. Pure immersion!
With Love from Tropical Waste ✌️
The next Tropical Waste party is on Fri Sept 27 with special guests representing Hyperdub, Moveltraxx and Hoover Sound. Early birds out now
I made a mix of hot, heavy, 100bpm club music for DJ Emm on Mode FM. Check it out in the second hour here
My mix of 130-160bpm club stuff is out on Kindred’s YouTube here