In each volume, I played on the subtle balance between popular releases and lesser-known cuts. I wanted you to hear the craftsmanship of the selection, to feel the human hand rather than the algorithmic one. Occasionally, I admit I sought nerdiness to an excessive degree, excluding excellent but already trendy tracks in favour of left-field pieces, but overall I’d say I achieved my goal. Another side of the same coin was the precise choice to include the most prolific artists with nauseating regularity. The presence of Juche’s releases, for instance, soon became a recurring inside joke, but fit perfectly into my search for realism. Artists like him, or MRJay have been, in some ways, undisputed protagonists of 2024, so why not represent this trend? Ignoring, at the end of the year, all this effort in favour of a more classic ranking seemed unfair, even if it meant to exclude high-profile releases.

Before jumping into the list, I’ll indulge in some general reflections on the macro trends that have marked (in good or bad ways) the wave movement. I’m going to start with a response to all the people who complained about the lack of ‘og wave releases’ on Reddit, X, and Discord. Look harder. Get out of your bubbles and learn to scour the web better. The songs you’re looking for are there. They’re just waiting to be found. Besides, if you miss the early days of the genre, I don’t think you lack material to listen to. If your culture only gravitates around wavemob’s compilations and little else, that’s on you.

Moving on, we’ve witnessed the definitive lofi-zation of wavephonk (yes, I vouch for this term). Despite being the majority current, in terms of volume of releases, the creative offering of the combo of rap vocals and wave instrumentals has proved sterile, relying mainly on stereotyped formulas and copycat solutions. As in the case of lofi, it has mainly become muzak, perfect for passive listening while doing something else, like playing or driving, or a stylistic choice that artists fall back on for promotional or economic purposes.

Speaking of driving, it can be said that ‘Nightdrive’ has officially become a sub-subculture of wavephonk. skeler is clearly the undisputed father figure of this niche, which however remains, to a large extent, a pale imitation of the Australian artist’s style. With his NightDrive 4 mix he has further demonstrated that he’s in a league of his own and at this point, the car-based imagery might be the only contact point between him and most of the other actors in this space. It’s not all doom and gloom, of course. Everything goes in cycles, and although wavephonk is at a standstill, I’m sure it’s creating the hummus for the new sounds of tomorrow.

At another point in the wave universe, Hardwave 2 became a thing. A real thing. Yes, the name may sound cocky or, on the contrary, overly formulaic, but it represents the group of producers I have enjoyed following the most this year. If the Hardwave has always been the noisy twin of the wave, the Hardwave 2 is its punk cousin who snorts lines of coke at family dinners. Over the years the definition of hardwave had already expanded (watered down some would say) to embrace tracks that flirted significantly with riddim, colour bass, and other bass sub-genres. Hardwave 2, however, bypasses simple flirtation and shamelessly jumps into sonic orgies where the Y2K trance component reigns supreme. Hardwave 2 is loud, massive, irreverent, fun, and, last but not least, emotional. It’s exactly what I’d expect to hear if Armin Van Buuren played Lost Lands. Artists like crowit, Altered Soul, Exodynamix, CNQR+, KENOK, and Teneki are responsible for the most daring and unpredictable releases I heard in the wave space in 2024. Hearing trancey arpeggios side by side with dubstep snares or amen breaks blows my mind every time. All that glitters is not gold though. Many Hardwave 2 tracks are still experiments from a technical or writing point of view but this is the kind of creativity I’m looking for. The kind that can stop me from scrolling and make me say “something is happening here.”

To cap it all, let’s take a quick look at the list. Again, these are the best songs picked from the eleven editions of WAVE Monthly I compiled through 2024 and they are placed in no particular order. In addition, some tracks that met the criteria were still excluded because they’ve been already included in our Top Songs Of The Year list. Most of the wave scene’s pantheon is present though. skeler, barnacle boi, Juche, Sibewest, enjoii, Klasey Jones, Pholo, vowl. have continued to develop their respective styles, further consolidating their leading position in the international scene. Some of these songs, in my opinion, must be considered among the best of the genre ever.

In the spectrum ranging from og wave to neo-grime, you find the future-garage-esque collab by calicry & FIVESUN ‘hamadryad’, Planet V and LOSTMANE’s ‘Immersion’, EVERYST and BACKWHEN with their beautiful ballad ‘Lovespell’, Gladkill’s ‘Future Unknown’, ‘Water’ by EONE and forget, MYSTXRIVL and Soko’s collab ‘Pixel’, SHXPE with ‘SOUL’ (the only 4/4 entry in the list), ‘Redemption’ by ovmegacvrse and heimanu’s bootleg of  ‘Red Stars’ by The Birthday Massacre. Among the best bangers of the year are Affectwave’s ‘CODE:NIGHT’, ‘Decrypt’ by crowit. and Exodynamix, the dreamteam REMNANT.exe and Noah B with ‘TRANSMIT’, MRJay’s ‘Break Away’, Teneki and CNQR+’s ‘Mirage’, ‘Broken Dreams’ by MitroWave and KENØK’s ‘LOVE AI’.

The post Wave Monthly | Best of 2024 appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

Kicking off with the newest single by barnacle boi, ‘KNOW Ü’, our Wave Monthly playlist offers the usual dive into the best in wave, hardwave, phonk, and everything in between.  We have a gritty edit of ‘Baby again..’ by hyperforms and more flips and remixes from obey, haydys, deadcrow, and MYSTYK.  For the more soft-hearted, there are plenty of vocal and instrumental ballads such as niburu’s ‘TOGETHER’ , etsu’s ‘Continuum’ or TYLER BREAKS’ ‘angel’. For the lovers of hardwave or stumping phonk-inspired beats, KTrek, KYLLER, kim & limedisx, FATE, Bafu, SBU & MRKRYL and DRIVERAVE got you covered. There’s even space for a couple of liquid drum&bass and jungle crossovers to cap off the playlist.  For the first time since the beginning of the year there’s no Juche music, but only because his two new tracks weren’t uploaded on SoundCloud. You can check them on Spotify.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/1832212302″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]

The post Wave Monthly | May 2024 appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

The forty-five-minute mix is an absolute vibe, showcasing BACKWHEN’s production process as well as some of phonk’s finest. Our interview touches on BACKWHEN’s origins, recent collaborations, the evolution of phonk, and more.

Tell us about the mix. What should listeners expect? What was your goal when putting it together?

I feel like this mix fuses together trap, wave, and phonk pretty nicely. I included a few of my personal favorite tracks of my own, as well as some gems from homies. Stoked to showcase some unreleased stuff too!

How does the mix compare to a BACKWHEN live set?

This is pretty similar to a live set. When performing I might experiment a bit more with transitions and play some harder stuff. For an internet mix, I want to make it as seamless as possible and set a vibe because it’s able to be replayed.

What inspired you to start making music?

Around 2013 I got into EDM and DJing which eventually led me to making music. Went through a bunch of sounds and aliases and ended up at BACKWHEN around 2015.

I just love the process of combining other artists’ sounds with mine. Then you put all the songs in a playlist and a project comes to life.

Your latest project Chromesthesia is all collaborations. Was this your intent from the outset? How did it come together?

It’s pretty much a bunch of collabs that accumulated over a few months! The tracks with katebi were over a year old I think. Just Connor and wrcktngl both live in Denver so we are able to work together irl. I just love the process of combining other artists’ sounds with mine. Then you put all the songs in a playlist and a project comes to life.

Do you have a preference for collaborating or working independently? Does your approach change in each scenario?

I love working with and chopping up audio so stems are great to work with. I just try to add my touch to what they have in a tasteful way. It’s different depending on who you’re working with I also really like working with myself and getting in a flow.

I just love the process of curating a project. All the tracks eventually come together and you get to see what you created.

A lot of phonk artists tend to drop their collection of works as tapes vs. singles and EPs. What’s the importance of this approach? Why does it resonate with you?

I just love the process of curating a project. All the tracks eventually come together and you get to see what you created. And it feels so good to find the right cover that represents it visually. It’s probably what other people were doing so I just did it. DJ Smokey’s old tapes were so well put together and we used to bump them all the way through.

Can you tell us about PURPLE POSSE? How did it get started? How has it evolved over the years?

Around 2015/16 I was into the trap and wave SoundCloud scene (artists like klimeks, whispa, misogi, grxgvr, blank body, voduz) I stumbled upon paulo (6-6-6) and aseri and that’s how I discovered phonk. Pretty soon after working with them I got the idea for a group inspired by swisherboyz (loud lord, myrror, xoxainedeezy). We made a group chat and they added all the homies and there it was. This video is spot on and describes it all. So blessed that all our roads crossed there and something great was born. We put out so many classics in such a short time it was amazing. I’m just grateful for all of it and I am proud to be a part of something with them. Always love to hymbeats and mythic <3 There really is no posse without them.

When we connected with Von Storm he cited you as one of the key artists that got him into phonk. How does it feel knowing that you’ve influenced a new wave of producers?

I feel like shows are the next step for sure. People love seeing something live for the first time.

Von is one of my favorite artists now so that’s pretty crazy. His music is influencing mine and the whole scene.

Phonk seems to be making bigger waves than ever with artists such as yourself and Yung Vamp playing more shows and festivals. How do you feel about the genre’s current state and the outlook for the future?

I feel like shows are the next step for sure. People love seeing something live for the first time. The Black Box in Denver has a monthly phonk night bringing in artists from out of state to headline. The couple shows I’ve played with vamp were crazy. I can’t wait to see where it goes!

What do you enjoy most outside of music?

I mostly work at my day job and play video games. Really stoked to travel a bit more to shows and meet people.

What should we expect from you for the rest of the year?

Chillout EP dropping 9/23, also some collabs on the horizon with watermane, everyst, von storm, escape, varo, and probably more. Much love thank you guys for the showcase <3

Tracklist
NECROEZ & BACKWHEN – ID
BACKWHEN – ID
EVERYST – IF YOU WERE HERE
BACKWHEN – Voice of Wind (feat. SMOKEFILLEDDREAM)
BACKWHEN – Rainbow Vision (feat. KATEBI & NECROEZ)
ELK, Chris Dogzout, & UZ – Pressure feat. SoloSam (BACKWHEN Remix)
BACKWHEN – BIG GAME (Unreleased)
Shell Sport – Claymore
jayrewind & varo – frisckk (BACKWHEN Edit)
ESCPE – DUBLCUP
EVERYST & BACKWHEN – ID
NECROEZ – Plain
WATERMANE – JUST THE WAY IT IS
DJ Smokey – Southside Prayer
haku – soletiva
NORTH POSSE – NOT SPOOKY FT. BLUBEAR

The post Guest Mix + Interview: BACKWHEN appeared first on FUXWITHIT.