Review: The exploration of sound design will always remain a fascinating thing to observe, a feeling that SVBKLT have been able to translate into full scale album releases for a hot minute now. Their latest offering sees Paraadiso set free to explore the wildest realms of sonic capability, from the glitchy yet angelic audible twitches of 'Blue Marble' and 'Beserk' to the bouncing, distortion-laiden slides of 'Liquid Matter' and frankly gorgeous harmonic stacks of 'Axis Mundi'. This isn't a typical electronic expedition, this is a conquest of soundscaping, from the twisted madness of 'Unisono', to the vocal infused synth crutches of 'Riflesso', it truly takes us everywhere. Although this is a project we would highly recommend taking in as a full long play, there are a couple of standout moments, including 'Aerial Dome' with its sudden dive into scattered drum rhythms and spacey pad textures, and 'Paradiso Terrestre' with its unpredictable 808 stabs and scatty harmonic framing. A truly, truly incredible piece of production-based audible mastery.
Review: Based out of Shanghai, China, the SVBKVLT movement have been making serious waves in pushing the 140 hybrid sound into pastures previously thought unreachable. They have done this through the assistance of futuristic grime / wave producers such as Swimful and Downstate. This time around they join forces with Tokyo's own Prettybwoy for a fantastic 6 tracker entitled 'Genetics', encompassing everything the SVBKVLT movement is looking to push. The EP is a fantastic long play listen, from the unpredictable rolling drums of 'Shadow Riddim' and 'Genetic Dance' through to the beautiful melodic imagery designed within 'Footstep Flying' and 'Outro Hello' finishing with the magnificent soundscaping of 'Hyggs'. It's safe to say that the EP is a masterpiece in futuristic half time music.
Review: The inimitable SVBKVLT is one of the only labels out there that is making grime music as it should be heard; none of this pseudo bass and quasi house, just the real gear aimed at getting your head nodding up and down in the car - shotgun, preferably. Kai Luen is a newcomer to the scene, but we're sure that we'll be hearing him soon and often given how masterful his skills on the mixing desk seem to be with these ten stone-cold killers. "The Hollow Ghost" itself contains all the elements of classic grime joints by the likes of Plastician, while others like "LA 92" or strive down headier paths, sometimes landing on hints of hip-hop or Burial-like percussion excursions. The real shit.
Review: Fans of Downstate will be thrilled to know that this gifted soundscape artist has resurfaced on Shanghai's SVBKVLT label. There are five musical works on the Devil Worship You EP, all with a hazy trap undercurrent. There's a very fine line of course between trap and witch house, one that's explored on the haunted, creepy beats of the title track. Elsewhere things get more chill with the light headed, flotation tank synths of "Frozen Slower Than Ice", "Hopeless" fuses mournful pads and snippets of twitchy sounds, "Wait Up" is low down hip-hop and "Ice Age 97" ends with slowly thawing electronics.
Review: Straight outta Shanghai, Swimful splashes down with an album sized bounty of beats. With heat picking up on both sides of the hemisphere, his Chinese wave grime fusion couldn't be more refreshing if it shoved you under a waterfall with a mouthful of extra strong mints. As teased with his recent remake of Wiley's classic "Shanghai", the whole set is paradoxically loaded with dense melodic layers (much of which contain traditional phrases, instruments and chords) and black holes of space. The result is a narrative that ebbs and flows from sublime beatless pastoral bliss ("Fisherman's Horizon") to loopy flute-blasting purple funk ("Atop") via sexy cosmic R&B circa 3016 ("Go!"). Lap it up.
Review: PM2.5 by Swimful was a hit when it came out earlier this year, and it lit up our charts like a Christmas tree. The Shanghai-based producer is back but only as the lead producer, and what we have here is a whole album of remixes; remixes of his whole LP by a number of well-known contemporaries. The great thing about the original was its versatility and diversity of music - from wobbly dubstep to mindful, beat-driven bass - and this hasn't been lost in this LP. In fact, the likes of Damacha, Desto, Kai Lauen, Naaah and AIRMAX'97 make this a truly jaw-splitting release, and have transformed an already great bunch of tracks into an artillery of new ones.
Review: Shanghai based music, art and fashion collective SVBKVLT is one of the landmark brands in China. Gaz, who is also the owner of Shanghai clubs The Shelter and ALL intends to excavate talented musicians in China and showcase good music from neighboring countries. They return with the second EP from Osheyack entitled Empty Hell, where the American expatriate incorporates gabber, industrial techno, ballroom and more. Containing three original tracks: from the brutal and textured metal beast that is "Parataxon" or the furious breakneck onslaught of "I Not Me" - bear witness to some truly contorted perspectives of club music. Plus remixes from KABLAM and Via App. The release was inspired by a text written by Jordan Tierney, and features artwork by Dre Romero.
Review: Heavy tribal inspired industrial electronica lives on through SVBKVLT and their release of Seven Orbit's EP0001. The mysterious entity are adding a bass flavoured fervour to a sound similarly matched by De Leon by the way of Mana Records in 2018. This mysterious outfit however goes deep into Laurie Anderson territory with the vocal tipped "Ganglion", bringing with it the MESH styled electronics and Aisha Devi heaviness in "Mantis". Trippy industrial beatdowns wieldy enough for Perc Trax of Brainfeeders metal department hit hard in both "SandGrains" and "Ravevv101", while Mark Fell would be proud of the percussive synth action in Gooooose's remix to "Ganglion". Leaving Zaliva-D to go deepest dubstep in his "Mantis" remix. For the adventurous.
Review: If you are looking for a true exploration into the realms of unknown sounds, then this is most certainly a project for you as SVBKVLT welcome 33EMYBW for a top quality LP project by the name of 'Arthropods'. Through a complex combination of super unusual pad structures, unpredictable rhythmic arrangements and gorgeous remix options, we can safely say that this is one of the most interesting selections we have heard all year. Despite the fact that we feel the project needs to be ingested as a fully functioning long play, individual highlights include the carnival-ready industrial percussion of 'Adam Bank', along with the incredible chiming melodies of 'Arthropods Continent' alongside Li Jianhong, and of course Ikonika's tribal-inspired remix as well!
Review: We have grown used to expecting the unexpected with every SVBKVLT release and it's safe to say this brand new selection of remixes from Prettybwoy's 'Tayutau' project has pushed the bar for creativity even higher than before. We begin our look at this one with Mr. Mitch getting to work on remix duty for 'SLT', taking the original and reworking both it and Miles' unique vocal textures into a hypnotic, drone-like sonic experience, with Cooly G's rework of 'Island' following closely with more post-funky energy. From here, DJ Q then jump into action with a vibrant UKG-inspired bassline flip of 'Destination', again reworking LIlI's vocals into dancefloor-ready groove, before Pinch gives 'Mikoshi' a war-like refurb, focussing on industrial style drum punches and grizzly subs below. This is how to do a remix project RIGHT!
Review: Next up on SVBKVLT we see a very interesting link up indeed as Gooooose links up with DJ Scotch Egg to deliver an incredibly creative LP, exploring the deeper realms of rhythm and percussion across eight vibrant designs. We kick off with the eerie percussive masterclass of 'JAC', followed by the sweeping moog pulses of 'Dengrouse' and glitchy percussive influxes of 'Goose Egg (dub)'. That theme of interesting percussion is woven heavily throughout the release also, with 'Aphids' being another great example, before the choppy melodic kick structures of 'Rolex' wade into view. Finally, 'Altered Destiny' delivers a delicate soundscape of clicks and flicks, before we get into remix duty, which sees Slikback rework 'JAC' into a much more hardcore, distorted expanse, followed by Seven Orbits & TSVI giving 'Altered Destiny' a glitchy rethink.
Review: There aren't many Osheyacks on the planet: men who whole defenestrate every possible conception and assumption mankind has of bass and techno frameworks and reconstruct things on their terms. This whole EP is unlike anything you've ever heard; smelting down aspects of hardstyle, tech house, ghetto tech and industrial into a distorted and bewitching, concrete-stomping brew, each cut on this generous EP rumbles like late nigh raves in a work steel factory somewhere off Omicron Persei 8.
Review: The heat of last year's "PM2.5" just settling to a simmer, Swimful strides back from his Shanghai lab with a fresh body of level-raising work. While his previous works felt more like loose jams, there's more emphasis on form as he glides, thrusts and seduces us into his universe. The Orient is strong throughout in both atmospheres and melodic structure (especially on the likes of the pads on "Skitter" and the hook on "Pearls") but it's the dark UK-style bass underbelly anchoring the tracks that really brings it together such as the wavy percussive elements of "Lonely God" and steppy dynamic of "Call Cards". Another fresh dispatch from a truly unique artist in bass right now
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