Focus Five is back for its 15th installment and it only keeps getting better. This month we have a Niagara Falls-based dubstep producer that’s been heating up, an artist who captures the purest essence of wave, a duo that lets their music speak for itself, a French producer expertly blending trap and future bass, and an eclectic Brooklyn-based bass producer. Get familiar with them all below.
Dex Arson
Not necessarily a new name to big time bass heads, Dex Arson has been delivering devastating dubstep for over half a decade. Part of the flourishing Canadian bass scene, the Niagara Falls native is a consistent killer when it comes to apocalyptic offerings that blur the lines between dubstep, DnB, electro and glitch hop (evidenced in his early, exceptional EP Playing With Fire). While one could easily empty a clip of interchangeable obsidian adjectives to describe Dex’s catalog, it’s the potent playfulness in his productions that pulls me in with each exceptional offering. He’s capable of blistering bass, vivaciously colourful vocal chops, dread-inducing depth, menacing melodies, slap-you-silly synth designs, and more, often infusing all of these elements into one track. For an introduction to the ferocious face-melting ability of Arson, try your hand at the Incandescent collaboration ‘Of Light And Fire’ or his latest Uplink Audio release and EP title track, ‘Ice Breaker.’
-OJ
iSorin
Birthed in the late stages of 2017, iSorin is a project from producer Igor Sorin that has cranked out some exquisite examples of wave music. Psychedelic, aesthetic, highly emotional but also club friendly, iSorin’s own style is what I’d use to describe my vision of the purest essence of wave. First independently, then through collectives such as Yume and Restricted, in April he finally landed on Vibe Digital for its first label release ever. With 8 months of work behind it, Through The Forcefield is an EP that flows without flaws from the first to the last second, bringing iSorin’s sound to its highest pinnacle yet.
-AA
MYTHM
With less than a handful of tracks under their belt, Canadian duo MYTHM are the perfect embodiment of letting great music speak for itself. Having popped on the scene out of nowhere, the talented bass producers have already earned support from the likes of Peekaboo, Tripzy Leary and FRQ NCY to name a few, and have recently had the honour of releasing ‘Kerfufull’ on SATURATE RECORDS as part of their Mondaze Finest series.
The coincidence of hearing two MYTHM tracks on two completely different outlets assured me that these guys are the real deal. Boasting a flow that is truly unparalleled, every MYTHM track can send both a festival crowd into a frenzy and a club crowd into a trance-like groove. Their short yet impressive arsenal takes freeform bass to a new level, flexing a Shades-meets-G Jones experimental vibe that is truly hypnotizing. Any fan of wonky basslines needs to jump on the MYTHM train as soon as possible, as the future looks bright for the Canadian duo.
-SC
tices
When you think about French electronic music, you almost instantly gravitate towards house and electro. Despite the country’s long running reputation and aptitude within these genres, there’s a new group of French producers switching things up and killing it within the future beat, trap and bass scenes. Burning brightest is Strasbourg’s tices, a producer whose impressive output and consistency could match some of the most well-established SoundCloud favourites. tices wondered into my life only a week ago with ‘together’. The captivating vocal processing grabbed my attention but the glitchy, knocking future beat drops stole my heart. As I clicked through his page I found 20+ incredible productions. Notable standout include the chill-inducing ‘falling,’ the body-warming and moving ‘heat,’ and heavy-hitting bangers ‘mile’ and ‘lord’.
-CV
tsimba
A Connecticut transplant producing and performing in Brooklyn, Mark Evans Musto demonstrates a penchant desire to defy conventionality producing an eclectic mid-tempo, bass-accoutred style of music under the alias tsimba for the better half of a decade. A percussionist at heart, tsimba leverages competence as a drummer to craft riveting percussion sequences, which provide a stable foundation from which he can erect elaborate freeform soundscapes.
Check out ‘PYREXSTIR’ and ‘Pwala’ for an accurate delineation of tsimba’s exceptional ear for obscurity and talent for meshing sensational percussive beats at even the earliest stages of his career and his Dématérialiser EP for a full-fledged gauntlet of experimental radiance.
-SL
Words by Alessio, Colin, Oggie, Sam & Steph.
