(Track of last week, to avoid confusion)

The Clamps are without doubt in the upper echelon of up-and-coming producers of the electronic dance game right now. Whilst their efforts span from electro house, techno and dubstep, their ventures into the constantly evolving drum ‘n’ bass scene are what I spend most of my time engrossed in. Released from their own production unit Kosen Productions, Serenissima builds up as a film score, an orchestral ensemble leading the charge into a battle fought between Earth and its intergalactic invaders. War drums absolutely thunder across the soundscape, even before the main beat is brought in, giving a true sense of how epic a scale this track wants to be. It succeeds beautifully. The tension rises rapidly with the orchestra and with it the bass, which sounds somewhat like an interdimensional chainsaw shredding through the very fabric of time and space, breaks its chains into a slightly syncopated flurry of punches you’d call drums. One brutally heavy drop later, the fight for the planet starts once more and you have a half-time mauling to await you in the mean time. Once upon a time, I dreamt of making drum ‘n’ bass for a film score, and this is currently the closest definition I have encountered to true cinematic drum ‘n’ bass. Spectacular.

This week I was on holiday, in lovely Wroclaw, Poland of all places. Having squeezed the free Wi-Fi for all it had and avoid the leeches of international data charges, I still had access to Spotify. However, the coldness of some areas of the city inspired some very 80’s new-wave, electronica and post-punk tones, so I didn’t do any listening of new musics per se and my soundtrack more or less consisted of entirely Depeche Mode, Schoolyard Heroes and Pure Reason Revolution. Instead of trying to pick one or traverse the extensive 80’s back catalogue of music I own, have three cherry-picked choices of the songs that echoed constantly from the hostel’s incredibly comfortable common room. Bon apettit.

(Track of the Week, 2 weeks ago)

This is possibly the most mainstream track I’ve probably posted thus far, but it was a slow week that week. That said, it does not discredit how good this song actually is. With the so-far unknown Dominique Young Unique spitting over a Godzilla-inspired soundtrack and tribal beats before following into a slow dancehall-destroying bombshell, most likely as a result of Diplo’s recent touring stint as one half of Major Lazer. The only way this can truly be appreciated is with an awesome sub-woofer as the bass is staggering, but in combination with the electro flourishes here and there and the emergence of trap and moombahton as cultural phenomenons, the meeting in the middle of all of these EDM fusions has made this one of this year’s sleeper club hits. Well, as far as mainstream radio goes anyway. Ridiculously enjoyable, not to mention my twerking jam of choice.

Ulterior have had the pleasure of being one of the very first bands I posted about on this blog, due to their Wild In Wildlife album being a slice of post 80’s goth/industrial influenced brilliance. However, I did feel that the members do have an air of arrogance about them or they are something much bigger than they currently are. That changed upon recently listening to their 2013 release The Bleach Room, which was being funded by fans for the best part of a year. The final song of the album The Locus Of Control gives me reason to believe that that air of arrogance could be justified. It is incredible. Cold, analogue synths, icy atmospheres, Sisters of Mercy-style gang vocals, mostly monotone lyrics, both nostalgic and creepy, guitars that switch between chills and vitriol… The combination for me has created one of my favourite tracks released this year, it is a dystopic reimagining of a classic period of music that get better with every single listen. The 80’s have never sounded so sinister and Ulterior have every reason to flaunt their creation, The Bleach Room is an understated work of art.