Bringing new and familiar faces to the table, Cerebrum Vol. I showcases artists such as Oolacile, BVSSIC and Vayre, all artists who have released full length projects on the label. New to Halcyon, though, include Inspected-regular Vorso, active electronic music community member Mr. Bill and newcomer lalanoi, among others. Additional contributors include Focus Five features phonon, Trinist and Alydian and FUXWITHIT favourite, Saka. Comprised of nine mind-melting tracks ranging from drum and bass to glitch hop, Cerebrum Vol. I brings a stacked lineup with top-tier tracks from start to finish.

Opening up the compilation in epic fashion, Oolacile, phonon and Mr. Bill join forces to create a tumultuous journey in ‘Exodus,’ as the piece meshes each artist’s style to perfection. BVSSIC and Staysick follow with the brute that is ‘Supervision,’ showcasing a keen attention to detail, core-shattering bass and a pristine balance of highs and lows. Wasting no time, Vorso comes next in a masterclass of sound design in the wicked ‘Honx,’ which may or may not be a follow-up to his recent beast boasting a similar name. Saka keeps the energy alive with a halftime heater that contends for one of his best tunes to date, with ‘Souffle’ flexing an swagger-filled flow and an oddly satisfying groove throughout. ‘Recondite’ follows, as Trinist unleashes a barrage of relentless bass in his 170 BPM neurofunk belter that further builds on his ever-impressive signature sound.

Coming off his Spectramorph EP from earlier this year, Vayre shares a display of colourful melodies and rugged basslines with the next contribution to the well-rounded compilation. Then, Alydian evokes raw emotions with ‘Kurota,’ demonstrating his incredible ability to use contorted vocals, deep basses and rhythmic percussion to induce the deepest chills within your spine. Staysys and lalanoi close out the compilation with ‘Bovel & Buwar’ and ‘luminous flux,’ respectively, with both producers embodying the essence of innovation in their tracks.

It’s difficult to do such an impressive compilation justice with words, so we highly recommend multiple listens from front to back – you won’t regret it. Don’t miss Cerebrum Vol. I below.

The post Halcyon x NEO4IC Unveil Mesmerizing ‘Cerebrum Vol. I’ Compilation appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

Despite often teetering on the dubstep side and presenting itself as a platform for future riddim, Halcyon has sometimes gone against the grain with its releases, and the Spectramorph EP is another culprit. The opening track, ‘Wavefront,’ is all the proof one needs, as the work that spans for over five minutes is beyond anything one could ever imagine they would find on the label. Featuring a member of our Focus Five roster Alydian as well as Mannheim-based Stasys, ‘Wavefront’ is an epic neuro journey exploring the hidden musicality of bass music that displays the true production mastery of all involved. With ‘Beyond’ and ‘Trace’ following similar lines giving listeners a hint of KOAN Sound but not eliminating the raw uniqueness presented by Vayre, and ‘Olig’ standing firm within the realm of future riddim that is quintessential to Halcyon, the totality of the Spectramorph EP is truly a bass lover’s dream project. Don’t miss it below.

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Wasting no time diving right into the full brutality of this EP, ‘Uplift’ rockets heart rates to borderline reckless levels. Ominous from the very beginning, listeners will be stuck in a death trap that they haven’t even realized they’ve been lured into. Practically forcing “hot damn it’s time to fuck shit up” energy to ooze from every pore in your body, the combination of brutal sound design and carnal hype form a track that is as intimidating as it is lethal.

In terms of raw power, ‘Tonal Riddim’ is one of the brightest points of the entire year. Utilizing bone-shaking horns and ludicrous sub bass, you’ve got a big ol’ problem on your hands. Imbuing all listeners with sensational electricity coursing through their bones, it has the same effect as ambrosia on the Greek gods of old. Infectious rhythm and an undeniable swagger showcase just how talented of an artist Automhate really is.

The last track I’m going to cover from Ego Stream, the absolutely gorgeous ‘Motion-E’, is a luscious dive into the more melodic section of traditional riddim. Trading gruesome ferocity for magnificent beauty, this is a piece that ignites the soul with instant euphoria. Affording you some peace in a time of major strife, pieces like this make time slip away just a bit slower, allowing you to fully engage in that time and place in a vibrant cocoon of serenity. Pushing the boundaries of sound and style with grace and poise, ‘Motion-E’ will assuredly be a track that you compulsively rinse in times of vulnerability for quite some time to come.

If there’s anything to take away from Ego Stream as a whole, it’s that Automhate is continuing to push sonic genre boundaries with relative ease, effortlessly navigating a diverse array of styles and putting his own trademarked aesthetic imprint on each. If he wasn’t on your radar beforehand, he absolutely should be now. Check out the other two tracks ‘Daemons’, and ‘Ego Stream’, along with the rest of the full EP for yourself below!

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The title track of this short but deadly affair, ‘Pacman Bullshit’ may be inspired by an arcade classic, but chooses to surely play no games. Boasting an infectious rhythm and borderline-obnoxious levels of energy, this is a piece that will bombard listeners with electric groove-material. Vicious switch-ups and maniacal samplings illicit only the grimiest of facial contortions, while simultaneously instilling unbridled joy to all that are within listening distance. Some of the cleanest wubs and dubs in the business, this a true delight on the ears, and will surely flex all speaker systems to their maximum destructive capabilities.

Ahh ‘Mud’, what a fitting name for such a dirty, gritty sonic arrangement. Immaculate synths coupled with delicious claps creates the world’s sweetest mud pie, fresh out of master chef Aweminus’s kitchen. A maddening melody forces you to creep ever-closer to insanity between deluges of bass, before sending you head-first into the asylum that is the 2nd drop. Did someone just let a ripe one rip? Or is it just the feeling you get when this track is wiggling the air in your vicinity? Maybe both, the world may never know.

Aweminus has once again proudly proclaimed through sound alone that he is one of the brightest minds in the game, with absolutely zero signs of slowing down anytime soon. Keep your eyes firmly peeled for what he has coming next, and check out the full EP for yourself below!

The post Aweminus Plays No Games With Latest Pacman Bullshit EP appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today! How’ve you been overall during these times?

Just trying to make the most of the free time that the quarantine has given me. I’m not taking it for granted. This is a rare opportunity and I’m using it to develop projects I wouldn’t have otherwise had the time to work on to this extent.

Halcyon is defined as “a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful.” Does that allude to the reason for your creating the label in the first place?

I want to leave the name up to interpretation for the most part, but yes, Halcyon as a brand is pulling much from the past, specifically the early 2000s.

I see you started Halcyon with the founder of Bewildered Productions, how did you two first get connected, and where do you see your relationship growing from here?

I have a discord server where I hang out and play games nightly, he was someone who was in the discord that I ended up gaming with frequently. I had been conceptualizing this label for a while, and the universe plopped Jerome (Bewildered) in my lap. I learned he was the owner of bewildered, which I was already familiar with. I eventually mentioned to him my plans to start my own label and that I would need help running it. He was interested in being a part of it. 9-ish months later, here we are.

With as much stacked talent as you brought on-board for this body of work, I’m wondering what the curation process was like? 

Curation heavily depends on the release. For the first release it was important that I was very selective about what made it onto the package. We start by discovering cool artists on SoundCloud like Cripplingg, then reaching out to long time friends like Svdden Death & BVSSIC who I know make insane music, and getting in touch with emerging acts who have been showcasing fantastic music lately, such as the majority of artists on the package. There were a couple of songs and artists I would have liked to showcase on this first release, however a variety of factors can come into play where it just doesn’t work out. The whole curation process took about 5 months.

You’ve really advocated for an artist-first approach around the label, can you tell us a little about what you mean by that, and some implementations you plan-on making that will set you apart from other labels in that regard?

I think the most apparent thing people will catch on to is that every release will look pretty aesthetically different, as we intend to give the artists complete power over the way the cover art looks, the video and marketing material, etc… We also source a variety of different visual artists to cater to what the musician wants, it’s not just one person in house making everything. Label branded releases will only be for compilations. To my knowledge we offer the highest artist royalty that exists. The main goal of all this is to just be a resource for artists that I believe in, so that they can bring their vision to life and constantly continue to develop the sound of bass music. 

You chose to entirely base this label around the emerging future riddim genre, can you tell us what captivated you about that specific genre that really made you want to focus Halcyon around it?

It’s actually not entirely based around future riddim, in fact, the first 2 EP’s we’ll be putting out won’t be future riddim. That being said, the vast majority of releases we have lined up are future riddim and that is definitely the sort of sound I want to focus on right now. Dubstep as it stands now is so heavily focused on sound design and aggression. Bringing in more melodic and harmonious elements adds another dimension to the music that allows for more creative potential. For me, future riddim is pulling inspiration from a lot of the classic dubstep producers like Joker, Nero, Flinch, and Emalkay to name a few, and then combining these musical ideas with the progress we’ve made in mixing, sound design, and especially flow.

Your earliest releases on your personal SoundCloud page date back to 6+ years ago. How has your style and taste evolved over that expanse of time? Would you say you’ve been more influenced by your own personal experiences and the world around you, or by the innovations made by others?

Definitely both. I pay a lot of attention to what people are doing in bass music. I’m a huge fan of it, so I’m always hearing the newest thing and newest artist. I’m lucky to be surrounded by people who are the same way and always turn me on to great music whether its theirs or people they are interested in. The only way I’ve been able to stay motivated through my 10+ year long journey making electronic music is by experimenting with different sounds, constantly evolving my creative process and musical interests. Right now I’m really inspired to focus on melody and harmony and incorporating that into music that can amp up the listener but also be rooted heavily in emotion.

Your contribution to the compilation, ‘Dreams (Data)’ is assuredly one of the most impressive releases in the entire body of work from a production standpoint. Can you clue us into the inspiration behind it and the creative process that went into it?

I’m glad to hear Dreams is impressive. The theme of that tune, and a lot of my upcoming music for that matter, is inspired by my interest in the nature of reality, consciousness, etc… These sort of topics can get super corny, but these things are always in my mind and greatly impact the music I write. In an abstract way I think melodies can effectively convey these curiosities. Nowadays, the way I’m beginning songs is simply by noodling on the keyboard and working out a motif. When these musical phrases start to resonate with me, that’s how I know I’m on the right track. There’s a lot of time that goes into sound design, mixing, layering, and various production stuff to put something like this together, but it’s all done in order to better support the heart of the song.

With so much uncertainty surrounding the current state of the music industry, what are some of your short-term and long-term goals for Halcyon?

The plan with Halcyon is to create a place where artists can trust in us with their music, and trust that we will be able to provide them with what they envision for their music. Hopefully as we grow our platform we can expand our resources and thus more effectively highlight artists and their work.

In past interviews you’ve said you’re a big gamer, especially Counter Strike and Dark Souls since they have a very high sense of challenge that you can overcome. Do you believe that same mindset bleeds over into your music production as well? And have you been using gaming as an outlet frequently during quarantine?

Absolutely! I have a core group of friends I play with nearly every night. It’s helped keep me sane during the isolation of quarantine. Right now we are mostly gaming on Age Of Empires. Shoutout L.u.x, Moley, Popsikl & Phonon.

What’s next on the horizon for Halcyon and for you personally?

Halcyon has a ton of music lined up all the way through to the holidays. Some of which is Oolacile music, I have tons and tons of unreleased music and now that I have Halcyon rolling I can begin to start pumping some of it out.

The post Oolacile Unveils New Progressive Dubstep Label With Debut Compilation Album ‘Halcyon Sounds Vol. 1’ (Interview) appeared first on FUXWITHIT.