Australian-born duo SLUMBERJACK and Vancouver’s Ekali have both woven their influence into the trap and bass scene in the past 4 years. Garnering opportunities to work with talented icons such as Porter Robinson, with their riveting take of ‘Fellow Feeling’ on the coveted Worlds EP, Morgan & Fletcher have demonstrated an uncanny ability to blend the line between trap and future bass. Ekali first took the future beats genre by storm with an exceptionally sophisticated remix of ‘Smoke & Retribution’ from Flume’s famed SKIN EP featuring vocals from Vince Staples and Kučka and has released nothing short of excellence since then.
Lacking zero qualifications, the 3 paired up last week for a ridiculously ornate single titled ‘Helios’, which is a brilliant illustration of two styles coming together with glorious synonymity, better than anything I could’ve possibly fathomed on my own.
The track begins with a soothing buildup with gentle chanting vocals in the backdrop, which at first seem to start at a distance, but gradually draw closer as the strings and drums heighten the energy of the song. Suddenly, a riser is introduced as the pace of the drums quickens and before you know what hits you, an exquisitely timed break launches you into the gut-wrenching first drop. By contrasting the dark, deep synth melody with a relentless shower of growling trap noises the trio managed to preserve the melodious essence of SLUMBERJACK’s style while beautifully accentuating the meticulous nature of Ekali’s sound design. A more distinguished, hopeful melody returns, briefly soothing the vibe before an unsuspecting barrage of belt-fed machine gun samples propel you into the second drop. The journey ends with an air of optimism as the yearning string melody brings the tune to a close.
After being completely baffled by the original, we were thrilled to see an edit originating from budding Australian trap producer, Yvng Jalapeño. As his name insinuates, Jordan has been cheffing up spicy beats in the Land Down Under for nearly 3 years and has recently made waves with an absolutely disgusting remix of the track ‘Interstellar’ from the ATLien’s Invasion EP.
With an ingenious eye for combination, Jordan leverages the lavish chorus from RL Grime’s tune ‘Wanna Know’ featuring vocals from Daya to illustrate his interpretation of the most recent masterpiece ‘Helios’ from Ekali & SLUMBERJACK.
The edit begins with the same heartwarming melody as the original, which sets the stage for Daya’s sumptuous vocals, which gently trickle in around the 0:10 mark. When I first heard the track, I had to double take to make sure I wasn’t playing two tracks simultaneously because the chorus flowed SO seamlessly with the original. The initial buildup furnishes the first opportunity for Jordan to tease his signature filthy trap style into the track as the vocals from RL’s track slowly fade out. Permeated with tight metallic drums, the drop takes the song into an entirely new direction, while leaving just the perfect amount of remnants from the original synth pattern to keep you hooked. The vocals flawlessly rejoin the melody, which steadily builds into a gripping second drop, reintroducing Jalapeño’s high pitched trap rhythm interwoven with the harmony of the original track.
“Really loved the original & had some ideas in my head while listening. I wasn’t originally going to keep the ‘RL Grime – I Wanna Know’ vocal in this but it fits really well, so I left it in as this is only an edit” Jordan discloses with his fans on SoundCloud. Even despite his ambiguity, we couldn’t be more pleased with the result of his efforts and personally feel that the vocals do a terrific job of enhancing an already spectacular original.
