SAVNKO — WHYUFALLIN

Italian producer savnko delivers a high-octane treat with 'whyufallin', a breakcore number that mixes the symphonic heights of Balearic-leaning dance music with the murk and crunch of various lofi-infused '-core' offshoots. The beat scampers and soars alternately, intricate yet destructed, providing the jet fuel that underpins the rising synths and glimmering syncopated chord stabs, the pitched vocals like rare polygonal birdsong. And, despite the variegated textures and vitality of the track, there's conscious attention to a minimal soundscape here.

Ultimately, and if the title is anything to go by, in this track the Milan-based producer illustrates troubled flight and hindered movement — the desire to ascend or push forward while weighed down by futility, fear, anything that anchors us. 'Why are you falling? What is holding you back?' Or to put it another way: it's the last lap on Rainbow Road and you're in 11th but still you push on to the finish.

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• 🔔 'whyufallin' by savnko is taken from his BIGTHINGS EP, which you can listen to via spotify or apple music if you like.
• 🔔 You also might like to check out savnko's previous work, such as his notgood@sports EP for Milan label 51beats, where he exhibits a decidedly more analogue approach and aesthetic.

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SQUAREPUSHER — THEME FROM ERNEST BORGNINE

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⌾ LISTEN TO THEME FROM ERNEST BORGNINE ⌾

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A frenzy of drums propels ‘Theme From Ernest Borgnine’ along, metallic snares rifle and tumble over themselves, a torrent of hi-hats and cymbals splash as a backdrop. Listening to this storm and surge of percussion is like feeling the weight of a waterfall: unceasing, multifaceted, and in the tumult of both, strangely soothing.

The natural connection to Squarepusher’s track doesn’t stop there. Lead synths chirp in snippets of stave-hopping brightness like the songs of robotic birds; soft, muffled chords provide a heavy haze, the type that fogs the sky on hot days. It’s only in its coda, the final minute and a half of the track, that it feels suddenly synthetic — human, basically.

The ambience falls away, revealing the true harshness of the drums, while acid synths wobble and crack in energetic celebration. Squarepusher symphonises jungle, creates rollicking rave beats garnished with emotive washes of sound, but he also wakes the dreamer from their peaceful slumber.

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• 🔔 'Theme From Ernest Borgnine' is taken from the upcoming remastered re-release of Squarepusher's Feed Me Weird Things — his debut studio album released back in 1996. The remastered edition is due out on 4th June on Warp Records. You can pre-order it on vinyl, CD or just digitally from Bandcamp.

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🐣 MOSSY — GLASS

This track exudes wandering feeling, something achieved by the first wide chords that fade into the tract of percussion already at work, and kept up by the multiple switches that happen throughout the track's duration, this sonic shape of meandering through somewhere, the kind of soundscape that fits weaving in and out of trudging commuters, or watching the land change blurring through the window on a road trip, a sense of discovery summoned by mossy, ever-present amidst the uncountable percussive clinkings and the space-leaning synths that shine and gleam and add a steamy water vapour rainforest mist to the proceedings, this natural feel conjured by these endless tracts of percussion luscious and wonderful, ornaments for 'glass'.

Snaking hi-hats rattle and handclaps slap-slap-slap-slap and a triangle tings and rainstick streamings and smart snapping snares and synthetic woodblocks clip-clip-click and far-off textural deliciousness cash registers a book flying through the air hitting a tree trunk with a stick—and then the marimba glockenspiel is chiming mysterious heavenly percussive glinting amidst the thicketing forest of sound. Modulating synth beams glowering below, a deep bubbling, the untameable core of https://soundcloud.com/julianborrego, whipping past leaves and crunching soil as you walk further into it, vocal samples yelping out of the neardistance hopeful representation of familiarity within the bristling trees and what they hide yet how strange they sound; the final vocal sung "I've been thinking about feeling something… every time I try, I feel nothing…" The simple longing for a connection whilst encased in chaos, looking from the outside into something better, how to break the barrier.

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• 🔔 'glass' is the third single to be taken from mossy's upcoming debut EP. More will follow so keep an eye out.
• 🔔 You can download 'glass' from Toneden if you like.

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🐣 JULIAN BORREGO — MBUTI / DEVOTION TO THE RAINFOREST

The first part of this track is a swirling mass of sound, exotic tropical flavours with warm crackly human chanting, jungle life, birds singing—but 'Mbuti / Devotion to the Rainforest' also gloops with a subtle rumble of bass, judders along to the hefty swing of the beat, sharp driving hi-hats keeping up energetic pace, augmenting the natural energy of this track. Soon we dive into a clean section where guitar chords acoustic and clean and raw-sounding jam in syncopated bossa nova style, jewels of percussion and clonking marimba click-clopping echoing the feel of a rainforest. Endlessly luscious, the cascading sounds reflect the plethora of life constantly chattering, a mix of samples and real instrumentation painting the trees and leaves and the evershifting nature of it all.

The musicmaker behind the track Julian Borrego tells us that the most prominent sample comes a song, also called 'Devotion to the Rainforest', recorded by members of the Mbuti people from the Congo region of Africa: "While crate digging I found an old album of their music that was recorded in the jungle (you can hear the birds and animals in the background)." The devotional chanting, the audible life of the jungle, implies an explicit connection to nature that cities and suburbs pine for, and which Julian Borrego celebrates with upbeat funk flavours. But he reason for this sampling, the locative placement of sounds, the lush jungle environment? "To continue to spread awareness about the disastrous environmental issues we face today," explains Julian, "and to send mother nature love and gratitude through music."

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• 🔔 This jungly track is taken from Julian Borrego's recent self-released Ouroboros EP, which you can listen to via his SoundCloud.

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ANDELS – BATTLE RACE

I don't often write about drum & bass or jungle stuff because, well, a lot of it seems quite... what's the word? – uninspired. Yes. It just feels, despite ramping up the bpm past the point of caring, unenergetic, lethargic almost. Just goes to show that you don't necessarily need to make FAST music to provoke a FAST (i.e. excited, energised) reaction. So when stuff like this does come along and sounds different to the rest of it, well, it's instantly recognisable. And in some cases it's really good.

Like with 'Battle Race' by Czech producer Andels, real name Lukáš Puška, from Ostrava, Czech Republic. This track feels less like a drum & bass or whatever track, and much more like a theme to some kind of high-speed racing à la F-Zero that just happens to have these d&b beats in the background. Beginning with these fluttering synth chords that pan left and right, we're soon dropped into a bass-bubbling beat littered with many instances of synth all over the place. Bleeping arpeggios, string synths rising and soaring into ecstatic heights, and a vocal sample singing its triumphant wordless stuff. A break in the song plays with the beat, trilling the snares and putting in these amazing little fills that are impossible to ignore.

After this break, things get even better in the second section: saw-wave bass judders to the end, synth leads summon a nostalgic mood, strings hang like a mist. And that nostalgic mood is something that is pretty much inherent in the whole track – even the beat, sampled no doubt from somewhere, is something you'd find in a 90s jungle track for sure. And the synths appear joyfully reminiscent, as if lifted directly from an old-school racing game. It's full of undeniably delicious sounds.

Looking back to the past is something that a lot of people seem to be doing to find their feet in the music world. Whether that's because their favourite music is from when they were growing up, or if they feel an affinity with sounds and styles which, though before their time, still excite their mind with an artificial but simultaneously strong sense of nostalgia – who knows. What it does seem to do, however, is be the basis, the foundation, for a lot of very good tracks in all sorts of genres from all over the world. 'Battle Race' is a prime example: a power-synth-jungle medley from the Czech Republic.

• Andels is part of Czech collective KOSMOSPIEL – check em out.

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PHACTS FROZEN

It's a sunny day! Hooray! Even in the mire of Autumn there are crisp sunny days. It's nice because it just enlivens the general atmosphere of your surroundings. Listening to music doesn't become the escapist lament of your environment and instead celebrates it, becomes a pliant soundtrack of your day. Yeah so yeah it's like this today and this song is sounding pretty cool. Making me want to go outside.

It is called 'Frozen' and it is by a Dutch producer called Phacts. He's based in Utrecht, Netherlands and also goes by the name of Asterisms, under which he creates "ambient, future garage". Phacts, in comparison, is a whole other kettle of fish. It's bassy, in-your-face, and most likely intended for dancing to - indeed he calls it his "bass/dancefloor alias", which it basically is. In 'Frozen', however, a number of styles go together in making this a genuine iceberg of classic and future noises that go towards creating a big, mean atmosphere.

Beginning with a strange, unplaceable few samples, of singing and a dusty piano playing, something that makes you anticipate some boom bap hip hop beats, it quickly winds into what he himself has tagged as a juke sound, akin to house with a more ghetto, aggressive sound. Attitudinal vocal samples loop over syncopated kicks, head-nodding claps, and hi-hats with fluctuating tempo. Every now and again, a full-throttle jungle beat teleports in from nowhere, providing a flawless switch of styles that is anything but jarring: sudden and smooth.

Futuristic soft synth wibbles and wails throughout, caressing and cushioning your ears and allowing the beat and samples to deliver harsh, rough-edged sounds instead. The fusion of hip hop style sampling, danceable bass and beats with ornamentation in the form of jungle interludes is something that gives the song a fidgety, schizophrenic feel, but this also means that it's bustling with energy and as such it's an exciting tune. Looking forward to hearing more from this man who has, incidentally, already performed alongside some pretty cool names already, including atmospheric Shigeto, Only Real and Cashmere Cat (to name a few), at the Valkhoff Festival in the Netherlands this summer.

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Listen to Asterisms on Soundcloud