Waste Mail: Issue 001
Welcome to the first issue of Waste Mail, the music mailer curated by Tropical Waste.
Join us every month as we document our favourite examples of Visceral Bump ‘N Grind™ – from deep drone and ambient thru to frenetic club music that moves up and down the tempo scale.
Below you’ll find a rundown of tracks, albums, DJ mixes and videos released over the last four weeks, with a few exceptions if we’ve dug a gem that previously passed us by.
There’s also a playlist that brings together all of the music and artists that get featured every month.
And as this is our first time, shout us if you notice any bugs, typos or have any other feedback – tropicalwastebass@gmail.com – we’ll be making tweaks and improvements as we go! Don’t forget to add this email to your primary folder too.
Dedicated to anyone who loves dancing to weird shit ❤️🔥
Tracks 🔌
DJ Pitch ‘Scared’ Watford’s finest casually drops a steamy low-tempo roller like it’s nbd. A juggernaut groove Listen
Ikonika ‘Bubble Up’ UK amapiano that’s as lush and rhythmic as you’d expect from Ikonika, who also unveils some exciting new vocal tracks Listen
MISFYA ‘System Bug’ A welcome missive from the SZNS7N camp: gleefully weird bump ‘n grind inside Listen
OMAAR ‘Marcha’ High octane productions from an artist who never misses – expect dark, focused tracks inspired by techno, gqom and amapiano Listen
Que DJ + DJ Lag ‘Where’s Your Father’ Gqom leaders link up to take the dance by storm (no one’s escaping this bassline) Listen
Rilla ‘Yukou’ The title of this EP has two meanings: the direct translation, ‘wandering light’, or ‘demon fire’, to describe the fire that follows a ghost. We’ll willingly explore further based on that alone Listen
Safety Trance ‘Lágrimas’ Heavy, heavy reggaeton from Luis Garban, aka Cardopusher. Features collabs with Virgen Maria, Iceboy Violet, DJ Sustancia and Brodinski Listen
Semprey ‘Cala’ Slick, shimmering, buoyant club cuts that move low and mid-tempo and radiate with a lovely, colourful optimism Listen
Surusinghe ‘GOOD GIRLS // BAD GIRLS’ Pure rhythm ‘n bass wallop from a producer/DJ who’s been tearing it up across 2022 Listen
TAALIAH feat Loraine James ‘Fuck It’ Rowdy link-up from two heads who’ve had a wonderful year. Defiant and fun, or, a suitable soundtrack to spending time in the club during these end times Listen
The 83rd ‘cru$hcity’ Never one to be polite, the NYC producer boots the door off its hinges once again to deliver dancefloor catharsis Listen
Toumba ‘Rosefinch’ From Jordan to the world! Toumba marks himself out as one to watch with this essential EP on new LDN label Hypnic Jerks Listen
Vod Kasat ‘Mavi Maskara’ Bristly freeform techno that hits the spot and then some Listen
Ziúr ‘Bin There Vol.2’ More club music mutations from the restless Berlin producer Listen
Albums 💿
ABADIR ‘Mutate’ Desperately trying not to rank records but this is a contender for AOTY in the Face Melting Club Music category. ABADIR fuses Arabic rhythms with grime, techno, footwork, jungle, Jersey and reggaeton to devastating effect. Pure gun-finger hype, as evidenced by his live set at Unsound alongside percussionist Hogir Göregen Listen
Aur3lius ‘Alquitrán’ Don’t let this LP of neon-tinged bass/club constructions fly under your radar. Out via the ever reliable Trax Couture Listen
Babii ‘Screamer’ Technicolour pop explosions courtesy of Babii, who brings Jennifer Walton, Umru and iglooghost along for the ride. Hard to resist this tbh Listen
Flohio ‘Out Of Heart’ Flohio continues to map her own path thru the busy, bustling and trend-focused UK rap scene. She swerves the BS and sticks to her guns as per, backed by long-term production partners God Colony Listen
FUMU ‘Enter The Anima’ This’ll make you throw bizarre dance moves, just how we like it – courtesy of Manchester’s on-point YOUTH imprint (check out the accompanying FACT mix too) Listen
‘Homecore! Miami All-Stars’ Danny Daze’s Omnidisc sets out a manifesto for the Miami new school Listen
Isabella Lovestory ‘Amor Hardcore’ This has been covered extensively elsewhere and for good reason: it’s a deadly combo of pop/industrial reggaeton. Great to hear Kamixlo on the buttons, too Listen
Loraine James ‘Building Something Beautiful For Me’ The legacy of Julius Eastman continues to be upheld, this time in the form of a gorgeous new album from Loraine James, who pays homage to the influential New York composer Listen
Lydian Dunbar ‘Blue Sleep’ Beautiful drone inspired by a day at the beach, enveloped by blue sky and surf. Surely one of life’s purest pleasures Listen
Rainy Miller ‘Desquamation (Fire, Burn. Nobody)’ Completely obsessed with this… Like a sculpture of sound art and auto-tune poetry that’s ready made for playing loud in the whip on drives thru the night Listen
Slikback ‘Condense’ The Kenyan artist has quietly, confidently been releasing records at a rapid clip this year. Here’s an album of collabs that cements his place at the fore of bulldozer-heavy soundsystem music Listen
TraTraTrax ‘no para, sigue sigue’ The title is taken from the Spanish for “don’t stop, keep going”, which is apt given TraTraTrax’s propensity for forward-thinking music that moves up and down the tempo scale. Essential! Listen
Venus Ex Machina ‘Doxa’ A short, sharp trip into the heart of Venus Ex Machina’s kaleidoscopic approach to techno… Each track a jolt of energy Listen
The Waste List 🚨
The Waste List includes all of the artists that are featured here and is updated every month alongside each new issue of Waste Mail
Mixes 🎧
Bok Bok - AP Life special The latest manifesto from AP Life is raw and thumpin’ and full of brand new music. Expect to go thru this mix with a fine toothed comb to grab all the IDs! Listen
Carré - Daisychain 240 Rising LA DJ Carré goes on a high speed adventure for a consistently great mix series. Follow her down the rabbit hole to get an idea of how it goes down at her party, Fast At Work Listen
Hermeneia @ Kiosk Radio Warsaw’s baddest swings between low tempo and double time, showcasing a new movement that’s bubbling in the depths of underground club music Listen
Jyoty @ HÖR You know what time it is… There are precious gems dotted throughout Jyoty’s latest mix, including some warped grime, mutant club and a new Sinjin Hawke x Scratcha collab Listen
Fact Mix 879: k means Weighing in at just under two hours, this is a super generous mix from the prolific Swedish DJ. It glides across tempos seamlessly and has plenty of WTF?! moments, which means we’ll be unpicking the tracklist to try and understand her sorcery for a while yet Listen
Live from Ortigia Sound System: Kelman Duran Kelman’s recent set at Suzio x Club Romantico in LDN took our heads clean off; a precise, finely-sculpted work of art appearing at peak time. So, this live recording from Italy is greatly received Listen
Manuka Honey @ HÖR The queen is dead! Long live Manuka Honey! Listen
Debt & Refuge with Nymity Music’s great ‘cos you never know what’s round the corner… Nymity produced our recent NTS show so it’d be rude not to return the favour and listen to his. A flow thru avant ambient into angular club has got us hooked, instantly Listen
Ziúr & DeForrest Brown, Jr. @ Refuge Radio A predictably invigorating 2-hour session from these two: DeForrest unfurls his brand of percussive minimalism and Ziúr slides in with the Club Bangers Listen
Sarra Wild @ Kiosk Radio The Glasgow DJ is on a hot streak of mixes atm, each showcasing a brilliant and inventive approach to track selection and mixing Listen
Stolen Velour @ Boiler Room Primavera The intensity of this mix increases with every track. And it’s a joy to witness Listen
Videos 📹
Bendik Giske - Not Yet Short documentary on the incendiary sax player Watch
BAMBII ‘Ride With Me’ A silky visual for this drill ‘n’ b belter Watch
Felix Lee ‘Citadel’ Into the shadows of South London we go… Watch
Rave New World: Clubbing, Art, Resistance DeForrest Brown Jr, Isabel Lewis and Andreas Angelidakis provide incisive insight into their notions of the club space and its history Watch
Safety Trance feat Iceboy Violet ‘Save Me’ Pure strobe-lit catharsis Watch
Notes from A Scene 👀
The Evolution Of Raime Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead’s debut album as Raime came out in 2012. Dark, spacious and industrial, it set the template for the club music-meets-sound design that proliferated throughout the rest of the decade. A masterclass in mean suspense and merciful release, it remains a brilliant record and felt explosive when performed live. In 2016 the pair changed tack, deciding to create tension by honing in on taught rhythms and precise repetition. Their second LP was created using the bare minimum: skeletal percussion, brittle guitar riffs and suffocating basslines. It helped predict the current movement of producers picking up guitars, something that will define the first half of the ‘20s and beyond. Then came Moin, the duo’s alt rock side project that has been active since 2012 but has come into its own with the addition of drummer Valentina Magaletti and two albums released in quick succession across the last two years. ‘Paste’ is truly brilliant, a love letter to the Midwest scene that has Raime’s loud/quiet dynamism and keen sampling techniques along with Magaletti’s virtuoso rhythms at its heart. There’s a fascinating narrative arc here (or maybe it’s just us being nerds?!) and that’s not even touching on Andrews and Halstead’s slew of EPs, which explore the outer fringes of avant dance music
10 Years Of Unit 137 A decade is a fantastic milestone for any artistic endeavour. But it also marks something deeper: a solid belief in the act of making and the crystalisation of an approach, mindset or style. South London sound Unit 137 has steadily been growing a community around its beautiful orange stacks over the last 10 years, from MCs, producers and musicians to youth music groups to the dancers who soak and bask in lush sonics at the system’s events across Lewisham. Perhaps its this creative energy and determination that means Unit 137’s record label is the most exciting its ever been, recently focusing in on low-end experiments from Hylu, Fea, Anja Ngozi, Ed West and Sleepy Time Ghost. These artists stretch, dissect and abstract dub and dancehall in what is now a signature of Unit 137 as evidenced on its new 10 years EP
With love from Tropical Waste ✌️
It was a pleasure to guest on NTS the other week. We packed 26 tunes into 60 minutes, half of which were (and probs still are) unreleased exclooosives from SHERELLE, TSVI, Zora Jones, Vegyn, Raheel Khan, Design Default, Manuka Honey and more. Don’t sleep - listen back here
What better way to enjoy all of this sick new music than by dancing to it? The Tropical Waste club night returns to London on Friday February 24 - cheap tickets for the heads who made it to the end of this newsletter here