Waste Mail 024: November's best music 🔥
A golden run of record label compilations shows where club music is headed in 2025
Welcome to Waste Mail, the newsletter that’s dedicated to cutting-edge club music and is written by Seb Wheeler for Tropical Waste 🔥
Plenty of new music to tap into this month, as record labels and collectives set out their stall for 2025 with wide ranging compilations and artists get ready for winter in the club/studio.
Fever AM, Nehza, TraTraTrax, Joog Music and Goodness have all dropped high quality comps, honing in on inventive productions that bang on the ‘floor.
Feels like sound design is coming into focus again, with releases from Lechuga Zafiro, TFT, AKA Hex, Isaka and Nahi Mitti all sounding like audio sculptures. And outsider pop continues to bubble, with brilliant new bits from BABii, MHYSA and Naina.
I fully overindulged on dubstep DJ mixes too… It’s a great time for the genre, as anyone who lived through the wilderness years of the mid to late 2010s knows.
Some announcements from Tropical Waste before we get into the digging…
Our final party of ‘24 is this Saturday at Ormside in South London. We link up with Drifting to present Surusinghe, Mun Sing (live), Sarra Wild and Simo Cell. Intimate venue, great sound, stacked line-up – don’t sleep!
We made tapes! The 160 Unity double tape pack and zine is out now. Recordings from DJ Earl, Big Dope P, SHERELLE and Kode9 on beautiful blue/pink tapes, with a zine of club photography and rave art. Made with so much love, got a handful left.
You’ll receive a special End Of Year issue of Waste Mail in the next couple weeks. It’ll feature the bits from the mailer that have really stuck with me this year and which likely haven’t been covered elsewhere. And there will be a December round-up at the very end of the year as well.
Shouts to my newest paid subscriber too! The number of Waste Mail die hards is growing and it really means a lot <3
The mailer takes a little minute to put together so the support is greatly received. Hit the link below if you’d like to take things to the next level and subscribe 🙏🏻
Enjoy the music!
Photo: London footwork dancer Malt Beverage at the Pound & Yam studio, September ‘24
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Tracks & EPs 🔌
96 Back ‘Rubber Knife’ Looking forward to the 96 Back album on SVBKVLT if ‘Rubber Knife’ is anything to go by. A fully warped, backflipped, post-club banger that I can’t wait to hear/play in the club Listen
ABADIR & Nahash ‘Marchadair مرشدير’ This collab EP sounds like a continuation of ABADIR’s incendiary ‘Mutate’ album, where contemporary club styles are fused with traditional Egyptian music. The sample inspiration this time comes from Arabic pop songs, majestic strings and triumphant vocals giving a real sense of occasion to the blizzard of percussion and bass that pushes these tracks forward. Thrilling stuff Listen
AKA Hex ‘Do The Rite Thing’ Having debuted their live show at Unsound, AKA Hex (Slikback and Aïsha Devi) come through with their first track, which sounds like it was forged in a blast furnace. From the heat comes towering experimental club music Listen
Bell Curve ‘Heart Alarm EP’ Nice to see Moveltraxx giving space to some 160 experiments. New York’s Bell Curve deconstructs jungle on ‘Just A Lil Bit Of Sweat’ and builds tense, cinematic slow/fast on ‘A Second Obelisk Appears’. A link up with incendiary rap duo They Hate Change on ‘Heart Alarm’ ties up the package nicely, providing a hype vocal-led counterpoint to the foggy low-end of the other two instrumentals, as well as adding to a growing number of rap/footwork tracks that have been released this year Listen
DJ Earl ‘Shine Club / Morning Scroll’ Two footwork meditations on thumb piano from DJ Earl, who sends sparkling melodies into the mix with taught drum programming and lush basslines. ‘Shine Club’ has a sunny ambient quality that’s similar to the Traxman classic ‘Footworkin On Air’ while ‘Morning Scroll’ ramps up the synths for a more futuristic vibe. Both are great arrangements, which are fully primed for the floor too Listen
Drummy & Martini ‘Datura’ Kindergarten is the NYC label that’s one-to-watch for exciting new club music alongside imprints like Nervous Horizon, Fever AM and Nehza. The releases – in terms of sonics, artwork and mastering – all belong in the same world, testament to this young label’s a&r and creative direction. Drummy and Martini contribute mutant bass bangers, rewiring dubstep, tekno and electro to suit a night out in the Kindergarten audio realm Listen
Emma Korantema ‘DEEPRUN’ New one from London’s Emma Korantema, who comes through with an icey, wriggly low-end beat that, to me, actually sounds pretty uncategorisable. That’s an interesting zone to be operating in, so if you need DJ ammo that’ll freshen up a club floor or pride yourself on keeping tabs on the ever-morphing strains of underground club, you should playlist ‘DEEPRUN’ asap Listen
Forest Casual ‘Drum, Botany & The Brash’ What happens if you’re into soundsystem music but don’t live among the pirate radio antenna and booming dancehalls of the metropolis? Forest Casual present a pastoral kind of dub, drawing for field recordings of the dawn chorus and serene, fragmented strings as the launch pad for meticulously-crafted basslines. The samples are mulchy and wet with dew but the production sparkles with digital detail, modern dub impressionism that also doesn’t take itself too seriously (“for the fungilist massive” reads the Bandcamp blurb) Listen
Isaka ‘Elytra’ Post-genre net music that gobbles up digital detritus and multiple sonic inputs, from Pinkydoll to Mark Fell’s algorithmic workouts to SOPHIE’s glossy, flubberised sound design. Isaka calls it ‘hyperbass’, which feels accurate; this is playful, innovative (club) music that revels in information overload and how that could manifest on the dancefloor Listen
MHYSA ‘UES’ MHYSA returns with more dusky, dim-lit r’n’b that sounds like it was recorded at 4am while wrapped in velour with the incense burning. ‘UES’ is a jam while b-side ‘Wish we could hang out more’ goes deeper and more spacious Listen
Naina ‘I’d Rather Be Here (Than Anywhere With You)’ Naina demolished 160 Unity recently, finishing her set with one of her own productions, which sounded pumping. And here it is, released officially, as Naina’s debut single, a 160 workout powered by big kicks and fluttering breakbeats, hinting at a crossover sensibility but keeping it very much dark ‘n sweaty. Can’t wait to hear more Listen
Nahi Mitti ‘Sigh / Hgby’ Complex rhythms, glistening melodies and inventive sound design characterise the latest release from Mutalism. On these tracks, Nahi Mitti works in a new (to me, anyway) interzone of trance, d’n’b and net music, lithe and heavy for the club, heady and ethereal enough to take you to a different space entirely Listen
The Era ‘Combo Pack’ If you needed any more proof that footwork is having a vintage year, Chicago’s The Era crew come out hitting with ‘Combo Pack’. A footwork dance crew that’s now making its own music, The Era drop battle-themed verses over productions by DJ Spinn and Taso, who pair minimalist drum programming with expertly sliced soul and jazz samples, warm melodies draping themselves across the 160bpm glide. ‘Combo Pack’ sounds a little like a footwork version of Guru’s Jazzmatazz project, The Era showing footwork’s versatility, with Spinn and Taso on the boards cooking up the quality we’ve come to expect from them. The accompanying mini doc is great too Listen
Albums & Compilations 💿
BABii ‘DareDeviil2000’ BABii continues to develop her razor-sharp hyperpop, delivering alt anthems with a crew of producers that includes Iglooghost and Mun Sing among the ranks. She counteracts loud with quiet, noise with melody, her songs full of crunch ‘n sparkle, like digital popping candy. The LP is set in Nevaworld, with a host of characters and graphics to explore too Listen
DJ Chad ‘Ghetto Origins’ A 35-track drop from DJ Chad, the Chicago footwork producer also known as DJ Rashad’s son. He keeps it battle mode, delivering tracks that whirl with footwork’s signature push-pull percussion, apocalyptic walls of bass and vocal samples that are looped and layered to intense, psychedelic effect Listen
Fever AM ‘It’s Elastic’ 10 tracks of forward techno from the Fever AM camp, who submit a finely combed tracklist that includes Karenn, DJ Doomscroll, Lurka, RONI, Peder Mannerfelt and label co-founders Mor Elian & Rhyw. The Fever AM approach is fast, propulsive and preloaded with at least one or two left turns, a not-so-subtle reconstruction of the techno form that is lively to listen to and fun to dance with Listen
Fracture ‘SLOW0860’ Fracture contributes to the growing canon of ambient jungle records, where pirate radio broadcasts, the dry ice atmosphere of warehouse raves and dubplate vinyl crackle is distilled into a haze of futuristic nostalgia. He does an incredible job, evoking tangible memories of big parties and walks home at sunrise. Lone rave stabs appear like mythical sirens, breakbeats skitter in the near distance, birdsong gives a sense of time and place among the endless, weightless euphoria Listen
Goodness ‘GOOD001’ London crew Goodness takes a brief break from curating mad line-ups in the city’s best clubs to drop a compilation of forward electronic music. New strains of ambient, wigged-out club and IDM are unearthed, with exclusives from 96 Back, Andrea, Proc Fiskal and Konx-om-Pax. Diggers will also be rewarded with gems from softi, whose ‘liquid silver’ sends froggy synth lines through darkside bass and Kincaid, who scrambles UK rave nostalgia into new school night bus music Listen
Joog Music ‘For The Low (End Lovers) 2’ Oakland label Joog Music drops 25 tracks of high speed, bass-heavy dance music from a super strong cast of US and UK producers, with a focus on footwork, juke, jungle and turbo-charged rave. The comp creates a transatlantic connection between a network of artists who have been working diligently to champion genres bubbling at 160bpm, from foundational sounds through to mutant offshoots Listen
Lechuga Zafiro ‘Desde los oídos de un sapo’ The first album on TraTraTrax comes from Lechuga Zafiro, the Uruguayan artist who bends, stretches and pulses percussion as if it were an extension of himself. Drums cascade and tumble throughout this LP, moving their way through different environments, brought to life by field recordings of land, sea and air made across South America and Europe. Each track breathes synesthetically and the album is programmed so that 37 minutes passes as one fluid movement Listen
Nehza ‘Transaere’ RONI’s Nehza label comes through with its fifth compilation of fierce and cutting-edge club music. If you’re looking for tough, bass-heavy DJ gear then this’ll be perfect: LU2K’s ‘Ez Tool 2’ is a masterclass in space, breaks and bass which samples one of EZ’s most famous blends and K-OH’s ‘Filhos do Maligno’ pushes speed garage into 150bpm jungle techno territory. Don’t sleep! Listen
TFT ‘GRDCL_LIVE’ Micro rhythms scuttle across this expansive two-part live recording from TFT, whose meticulous, deep machine music could be recommended to fans of Beatrice Dillon, Gabor Lázár and the Fell/Treanor dynasty. The first side is calm and focused, warm pads allowing a splash of colour across the unrelenting monochrome drums, before the second side unspools into an acidy, irregular freak out Listen
TraTraTrax ‘no pare, sigue sigue 3’ There’s a mid-range buzzsaw that is one of the characteristics of the TraTraTrax ‘sound’, epitomised on the first track of the label’s third compilation by Lurka, who hands in a fat, bolshy remix of Esa & Narch’s ‘Gas’. It’s a wonderful opening into the innovative club sounds and cross-cultural conversations within. And while a few tracks feel like great attempts at a TraTra template, the curation remains two steps ahead, with contributions from Shapednoise & HWLS, De Grandi, Luca Durán & Atrice and 10010 revelling in the freedom and experimentation that the label actively encourages 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 🎧
5RVZ - kinetic mix 036 kinetic flies in the face of phones in the club, sponsored posts and other types of dance music junk, digital or otherwise. On a mission to journey to the deepest recesses of electronic music, the latest in the kinetic mix series is a sub aquatic ‘screwed and chopped’ session from kinetic label signing 5RVZ. His own productions are stretched into chasms of space ‘n bass, perfect for the low-end explorers out there Listen
Beatrice M - RA.961 Beatrice M approaches dubstep like a kaleidoscope, studying the many different ways it manifests, from wiggy, purist dub through sleek, monochrome, techno-adjacent rollers and roof-rattling bangers that detonate at the drop. Their mixes remind me of that mid to late 00s moment where dubstep was full of endless possibilities and all these years later it turns out it still is… Listen
CA$TLE w/ Big Dope P - Subtle Radio CA$TLE is a talented producer behind one of the year’s best tracks (‘Work Me Up’ with Princess Xixi) and his Subtle show is a slickly-mixed treasure trove of new and recent 160 heat. Big Dope P steps into the guestmix and rocks a typically charged up set of his own productions and Moveltraxx bangers Listen
Craic David welcomes EQ Why - Subtle Radio London-based footwork producer Craic David invites Chicago’s EQ Why to go all in on an hour of his own fierce productions as well as bits by the likes of DJ Rashad, RP Boo and DJ Clent. EQ Why is one of the most exciting producers on the Chicago scene at the moment and this is a great chance to hear him go full throttle in the mix Listen
Joker - RA.962 I’m getting to the point where I’ve lived through a few electronic music trend cycles and I often think about what it takes for an artist to weather the ever-changing winds of hype. I think it comes down to executing a vision and, ultimately, transcending genre. Well over a decade since Joker innovated the dubstep template with his Purple sound, the music that the Bristol artist is making and playing out remains crucial because there’s no one doing it like him Listen
Jurango with iona - SWU FM Jurango and iona cruise across the spectrum of low-end dance music on this two-hour broadcast. Jurango sets things up nicely with some vintage dark garage and OG Tempa cuts before iona gets into the guestmix with bass-heavy techno, breakbeat rave moments and some gnarly mutations too. Also really like Jurango’s hosting; more dance music radio should actually be radio! Listen
Mala b2b Skream - Boiler Room What’s the difference between good wobble and bad wobble? It’s a fine line, but it’s great to see Skream re-embrace the mid 00s dubstep sound that he helped invent and which, during the 2010s, got just a little out of hand. After rinsing out his Boiler Room b2b with Benga with countless reloads, the boy from Croydon keeps a steady hand here alongside longtime associate Mala and the two meet in the middle of tough, angular basslines. This is it Listen
Paide - outlines Mix 50 A mix of deep, percussive footwork from Paide, the co-founder of Polish Juke and boss of outlines, the label that specialises in releasing 160bpm experiments and abstractions. The mix is a journey through sleek, minimalist rhythm and bass, showcasing outlines’ catalogue, forthcoming releases and recent footwork hits, like Manny’s remix of Kelela. Quality stuff - raid the tracklist for IDs and get immersed in the long, hypnotic blends Listen
Sicaria - The Lot Radio Sicaria is one of the leading DJs who has been pushing dubstep into the future during the late 2010s and early 2020s, focusing on new producers, new music and new energy, which is much needed to keep a sound alive and well. This mix is loaded with zingers, a selection that shows how on the pulse Sicaria is and a sample of the stuff she’s been playing during her recent headline tour Listen
Sarra Wild - Rinse France Rinse FM resident Sarra Wild jumps into the station’s Paris studio to deploy a typically off-kilter set, where heavy, grinding club music morphs into some insane blends of Algerian music, giving way to a tribute to the late, great DJ Mehdi, as well as some anthemic hip hop and r’n’b. Never, ever a dull moment with Wild, who always lives up to the name Listen
With Love from Tropical Waste ✌️
Still deciding whether to cop a 160 Unity zine/tape pack? Edition of 50, no digital, no repress. Honestly, they’re so sick
See you in the smoke on Saturday night. Ormside is gonna dissolve with bass pressure!
The next 160 Unity will be on Feb 21 2025. We’re working on the lineup as you read this. Save the date.
