Waste Mail 027: January's best music 🔥
We've already got contenders for album of the year 🥁
Welcome to the second Waste Mail of 2025 and the first that covers new music from the new year.
We already have contenders for Album Of The Year: The thrilling, technicolour renditions of US club music that sweep rapidly across Khadija Al Hanafi’s ‘!OK!’ and ‘Truth Be Told’, the father-son footwork collab from DJ Clent and DJ Corey.
As you can tell, I’m still indulging my love of 160. This month’s albums section is packed with high speed innovations.
Those wanting to stick to the speed limit will be glad to know that there’s a bunch of great new tracks and EPs that bend and flex the parameters of The Club at varying tempos. Some killer DJ mixes too, but that comes as standard these days.
For anyone keeping an eye on the time, Waste Mail is now just over two years old. We’re closing in on 1000 subscribers, which is really cool. Thanks for sticking with it, digging deep and sending encouragement that keeps the mailer going.
Out to my paid subscribers each and every 💖 The best way to support Waste Mail is to move it to your primary inbox and share the link with friends. But if you’d like to achieve GOAT status, you can activate a paid sub for the price of a coffee a month and keep me gassed to write the best blurbs on Substack. To the crew that have taken the jump, thank you 🙏🏻
Next IRL moment is 160 Unity at MOT in LDN on Feb 21. All star line-up. 50 tix on the door. Don’t sleep!
Photo: A detail from Amber’s, Manchester, December ‘24
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Tracks & EPs 🔌
aya ‘off to ESSO’ UK petrol station as portal to the rave (meet-up point, party hotlines, last stop for gas); 4am beacon drawing sesh heads like moths to a Bic lighter; home of the comedown recovery Meal Deal (fridge temp BLT, tastes of Tuesday). And the site of the lead single from aya’s forthcoming new album, a burst of post-everything pop complete with a mid 00s post hardcore chorus off to the esso, off to the esso! Listen
BFTT ‘Regression edits II’ A set of weightless edits from Manchester’s most imaginative club kid. Floating somewhere, blissfully, between v1984’s deconstructed cult classic and the Aquaphoria mixtape, post-club textures are interlaced with peak-time vocal hooks from A$AP Rocky and Kylie, making for perfect DJ tools or lush magic carpet rides home from the rave Listen
Big Dope P ‘Castagne Club EP’ Big Dope P calls in the cavalry to remix key tracks from his incendiary 2024 album ‘Toto La Castagne’. DJ Manny, Jana Rush, Spooky Bizzle, DJ ADHD and Rico The Wizard all get to work, with Bastiengoat’s breezy blend of US club and UK garage being my particular fav Listen
DJ Manny ‘Circus EP’ The ridiculously on-form Manny drops a trio of new school footwork bangers for Little Corner, going in on dazzling synths on ‘Backdrop’ and ‘Circus’ and providing a cheeky peak-time moment with ‘Tell Me Edit’ Listen
Dj.Mc ‘Breathe In’ Totally killer avant garde footwork from Dj.Mc’s latest EP on Moveltraxx. A Lil Uzi Vert sample is stretched and repeated across the overwhelming hum of a breezeblock bass tone (think Chicago’s answer to the Dilemma Instrumental). No-compromise minimalism that’ll flip the dancefloor inside out Listen
God Colony x PS Hitsquad Great to see God Colony back on their club music BS (real heads know ‘se16’ with Flohio was one of the best singles of the 2010s). Here, the Merseyside duo hit the sweet spot between growling gqom bass and euphoric M57 rave builds, mad ecto greaze that PS Hitsquad runs total riot over Listen
L-vis 1990 & Eklipse ‘Renegade EP’ Four soundsystem killers delivered by renaissance era L-Vis and Newham MC Eklipse. This is music that’ll knock the wind our of your chest, L-Vis nodding to dark garage, screw-face dubstep and lights-down deep tech while Eklipse delivers bars low ‘n slow Listen
Jubilee ‘Jump Start’ Jubilee twists up a flurry of transatlantic club styles and sparks two fat ones on this EP for her Magic City label. Big, bright ‘n bold; the sound of a Hackney Parrot migrating to Miami for the winter season! Listen
Kush Jones & Oyubi ‘Sin Jyuk Guen EP’ Grime-y, acid-y, juke-y mutations from New York’s Kush Jones and Tokyo’s Oyubi. There’s two tracks: ‘Beef Noodle’ is primed for the reload, wriggly high speed squelch leading to a rude bass detonation, while ‘Sin Jyuk Guen’ gets rid of the hype and burrows deep into the rabbit hole Listen
SKETCH ‘Settle Ni’ A 127bpm stepper tooled up with heavy ritualistic percussion and Black Ark bass weight. A meditation as well as a battle cry – hot tip for the DJs as well as the diggers looking for a fresh start to ‘25 Listen
Albums & Compilations 💿
chicagocalls ‘keep studying and check flight prices to Chicago’ A compilation of footwork, juke and 160 hybrids out of Poland. Assembled late last year to raise funds for Prince Jron, the Windy City footworker who lost his home to a fire. Dive in for weirdo 160, explosive mutations and some super smooth soulful joints Listen
DJ Clent & DJ Corey ‘Truth Be Told’ The 2020s footwork renaissance continues as Chicago OG DJ Clent drops a joint album with his son DJ Corey, who’s been responsible for some of the most exciting new footwork recently. The pair go toe-to-toe, contributing solo and collab tracks that span acid, afrofuturist mediations, drum machine jams, battle tracks and booty music; a full suite of approaches rooted in the great ghetto house tradition but moving confidently into the future, as the title of the pair’s final track attests: ‘Undisputed’ Listen
DJ Jalen ‘Time Share’ Teklife’s Jalen delivers an outside-the-box footwork album made entirely on an MPC. Juke banger ‘Bounce Dat’ and Minimal Nation-esque roller ‘Retro’ are outstanding, with ‘Reach’ evoking the euphoric highs of cloud rap instrumentals as well as the astral explorations of early 2010s Planet Mu. A number of tracks go hard on the synths, ‘Light Speed’ being a particularly good example of Jalen’s ear for melody ‘n rhythm Listen
Heavee ‘TRAKPAK V7’ Fans of next-level footwork and fwd-thinking electronic music who are craving more Heavee output after a killer year for the artist in ‘24 will be stoked on this harddrive drop which features a stack of minimalist machine workouts. Pure propulsion ‘n heat Listen
IFS MA ‘REIFSMA REMIXED’ In 2023 Poland’s experimental footwork label outlines released a killer album by Polish production duo IFA and Japanese vocalist MA. As the crew preps for another collab, they’ve dropped eight remixes of that album by a cast of producers from PL and JP, resulting in yet more imaginative fusions and mind-mleting club music Listen
Khadija Al Hanafi ‘!OK!’ Technicolour takes on US club music beam in from the FM dial of Khadija Al Hanafi’s mind. 20 vivid tracks fly past in 34 minutes, as if scanning radio stations looking for the perfect hook and rhythmic template. Footwork, juke and Jersey beats are sequenced with the hyperactive excitement of a bedroom producer who’s obsessed with these sounds, while lethal samples from across rap, r’n’b and jazz arrive as if carved by Dilla himself. This is gun finger sampledelica that has a wicked sense of what works on the ‘floor Listen
U.e. ‘Hometown Girl’ Ulla and Ultrafog’s ‘It Means A Lot’ was one of my fav ambient albums of last year. Now Ulla returns as U.e. for a set of soft, lofi, dim-lit sketches that blur in and out of each other, before reaching final form in penultimate track ‘Drawing of Me’, which is blissful melancholy at its best and most comforting 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 🎧
Big Dope P - HEADS KNOW TAPE 026 Doppie continues his run of form with a mix that goes full send on juke, footwork, rap and his own brand of sparkling, high speed French Touch Listen
DR MYSTERY - Just 4 U The latest installment of DR MYSTERY’s Just 4 U video mix series hones in on percussive 160, fusing global takes on slow/fast and footwork as well as some jungle and breakbeat rave Listen
ex.sess - Ola Radio ex.sess mixes up high tempo club mutations for Ola Radio in Marseille. This one’s for the club kids who wanna sweat to weird shit Listen
Fracture - Rinse FM Super fun cruise through new, bass-heavy music, starting with some breaksy 140-150 before settling into some footwork and a stack of crucial jungle. New bits from DJ Manny and Sully sound particularly good here. Great hosting from Fracture too, who shares IDs and gets hype on forthcoming releases Listen
Hesska - NTS An immaculate selection of avant garde electronic music, deconstructed club, outsider anthems and tuff rhythmic workouts. This is the high grade! More great radio hosting too Listen
Janesita - I-94 Janesita is a rising Chicago DJ who’s holding it down for the city. This selection for the I-94 mix series (named after the highway between the Chi and Detroit) throws up lit edits from Rashad and Hesk, fierce global 160 like Charly Sy’s ‘Naf Ya’ and red-hot tracks from Windy City greats Manny, Acey and Dj.mc. Check out the sections of acid-y footwork which get particularly locked in Listen
k means - Unsound Podcast 106 Enjoyed k means’ closing set at Unsound 2023 so much that the experience is seared into my brain. A total holy grail. Here’s the recording, where the slow/fast rhythms, froggy basslines and bursts of party-starting juke are immortalised in the digital realm Listen
Objekt live at Draaimolen Festival 2024 Headsy Substack writers are allowed an Objekt live recording as a little treat. The technically gifted DJ goes long on fast, rhythmic workouts for the mind and body Listen
RP Boo - Elevator Music Pure joy when Buuuuu hits the decks. Lock in with the Chicago master, who drops soulful, funky, and always battle-ready footwork Listen
¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U - Boiler Room The world’s best techno DJ confounds purists and astounds dancers by blending up Skrillex, Jamie xx and The Chems with 3Phaz, Tzusing and SOPHIE. The energy and blends have rightly earned this stream more than two million views in under two weeks - it’s great when the good stuff wins! Listen
With Love from Tropical Waste ✌️
Every time I look at this flyer it gets better. See you down the front x
