Focus Five: Volume Ten

As November draws to a close that means it’s time for another installment of Focus Five. As always we’ve rounded up five of our top picks for artists that you need to know. We’ve got another Kiwi killing it, an incredible German bass duo, two of Toronto’s rising stars and a 13 year old producing wild sounds well beyond his years. Get familiar with them all below.

ANKA

It’s starting to feel like Focus Five isn’t complete without one New Zealander on the list. This month we’ve got one of the island’s hottest exports in ANKA. His sound is fresh, funky and always dripping with bounce. If you’re a fan of Montell2099, you’ll love ANKA. Don’t let his somewhat sparse SoundCloud mislead you, his output is no joke. Unfortunately in the era we live in, takedowns happen all too often. This is underscored by the fact that two of his best remixes ‘FREAK,’ a Missy Elliot rework and ‘B A N D $’ a slapping flip of ‘This Is America,’ have both been wiped from the internet. To get a taste of ANKA’s brilliance you can check out his recent flip of ‘1, 2 Step’ or the addictive heater ‘F O G O’. He also just released a smooth remix of Nashville Life Music’s ‘My God’ which shows a different side of his sound.
–CV

DONKONG

I first came across DONKONG back in 2013 after hearing their energetic banger ‘Turn It Up’. Despite loving the track, the duo somehow managed to fall off my radar over the years. We included their collab with Holly in a FUXWITHITFRIDAYS feature back in 2016, but other than I completely lost sight of them. That is until last week when the SoundCloud gods blessed me with their latest release ‘Bounce’. As soon as I saw it pop up I thought, “Hey, I wonder what these guys are up to.” While I expected something solid, ‘Bounce’ completely crushed my expectations. The track is a banger of epic proportions combining fun-loving lyrics, a club-ready bounce with devastating bass. It’s the type of track that instantly commands your attention and makes you an instant fan (or in my case, a fan once again). The track isn’t some recent fluke either. ‘Clickbait,’ which was released earlier this month is just as impressive while showing a more emotive side of their sound. Need more convincing? Check out their pounding remix of MARTEN HØRGER X NEON STEVE’s ‘You Don’t’. Whether you’re discovering DONKONG for the first or second time, you won’t be disappointed.
–CV

Moore Kismet

At an astonishing 13 years of age, Adelanto, California based Omar Davis may be the most exciting young producer to pop onto the scene in the past year. Performing and producing under the alias Moore Kismet, Davis describes his sounds as “music you’d hear if your computer glitched into oblivion” and in complete honesty, he’s not wrong. Building upon the recent craze for experimental and glitchy trap sounds, Moore Kismet has precariously refined his own style since his debut just over 2 years ago and is quickly attracting the attention of noteworthy producers and influencers in the bass music scene.

Be sure to checkout Davis’ spicy reboot of Hekler & Gladez ‘404’ for an outstanding example of his innovative experimental trap style, or his latest collaboration with SHSTR titled ‘Storm’, which reveals a more emotional, synth-heavy side of the young producer.
–SL

Slooze

It seems we have an insurgence on our hands as a mob of midtempo artists (KRILLA, LICK, SWARM and more) have been authoring some incredibly auspicious tracks. While the three artists above share a spot on SYNESTHESIA’s Blood Moon EP, it is the former who not only shares a city, but a production with the artist in question. Here we’re talking about ‘First Contact’ from Toronto talents Slooze and KRILLA, which fittingly was the first I’d heard from either artist. Like its title suggests it is a monumental production; a futuristic firestorm belying whatever semblance of calm or serenity such an event could bring. Apart from a lone standout in ‘Rebirth’, all of Slooze’s productions scream with the same sensational energy and unease found in ‘First Contact’. Whether entirely his own production or a killer collab, there is simply no denying the raw power he possesses. In my view, there is no better example of this high-voltage horsepower than in ‘Oblivion’, an awesome onslaught of everything dark. We may have met our Queen Of Darkness in REZZ, but there’s no questioning Slooze’s spot in that rancorous royal family.
-OJ

ZABO

Keen observers will note that I didn’t include ZABO in the midtempo mob, despite releasing ‘Schizophrenia’ on Blood Moon. In fact I left him out all together, so as to begin with his collab with Slooze, ‘Ascent.’ Another talented Torontonian, ZABO first found my ears in the summer of 2016, with a since deleted remix of Jauz and Ghastly’s ‘Ghosts N’ Sharks’. I still vividly recall the bassface that drop received from the guest artist in studio that day, as it now appears on my face each time I press play on one of ZABO’s potent productions. Since then not only have his productions grown in reach but also in breadth, most recently in his Ghost Lab EP on Ghetto Ghetto. Partnering with Marco Marz for ‘Baller’, ZABO’s booming bass and striking design play front and centre around the G-house beat. Its b-side ‘Bellow’ takes us back to the more familiar type of fire: terrifying ivory tickles, sinister strings, devastating drums, anxiety-ridden atmosphere and blasphemous bass wobs. And now this is where I’ll admit that the final phrase in the last sentence grew out of ‘Blasphemy’, another SYNESTHESIA release. Coming full circle with my portion of this post, I submit to you that the future of bass music is in good hands.
–OJ