borne

Montreal-based borne has quickly become a standout amongst the new wave of producers mixing dark UKG and 140. Alluring samples, pristine drum programming, and mastery of soul-rattling bass combine for a signature sound that’s been popping up everywhere in 2024. The producer capped off 2023 with his statement-making Deep End EP arriving in December and he hasn’t let off the gas since. He set the stage for the year with his FUXWITHIT Guest Mix and followed it up in short order with the massive ID showcasing ‘OFF-THE-RECORD // BORNE 2024 SHOWCASE‘ mix. A steady slew of impressive singles has kept the producer atop everyone’s minds and playlists with standouts like ‘My Mind,’ ‘Silence’ and ‘Hush’ alongside Alexis B all doing numbers on Spotify and ringing off in live sets. This time last year we said borne had officially put us on notice, and a year later his star continues to ascend as we expected.
-C

KILLMATTER

The stellar efforts and constant wave of perseverance from KILLMATTER have inspired many this year. From releasing his bonkers debut EP, DON’T EAT THE FRUIT,’ having his very own guest mix with us, to just releasing an insane live performance showcasing a ton of IDs, there’s no telling what he’ll deliver next! He even dropped arguably the best ‘Push’ remix by Skrillex, Hamdi, Taichu, and Offaiah. The skies are the limit for this madman as he continues to descend into madness, working day and night to give us the best quality of tunes! If you haven’t dove into his discography, then now is the time! We highly recommend keeping a close, sharp eye on him. We have a great feeling 2025 will be an even bigger year for this artist.
-JD

Nikita, The Wicked

Something wicked this way comes… Despite branding himself as the villain of the electronic music scene, Nikita, The Wicked, is hard not to love. The rising star had an absolutely incredible 2024 that began with a house-leaning offering ‘The Auction,’ before exploding with his genre-defying ‘iloveitwhentheyrun’ EP. He then continued to skyrocket with the release of masterful singles like ‘Back Once Again,’ ‘Ya Body’ and ‘Like Me.’ His creativity is unmatched, blending off-kilter and experimental flourishes without ever sacrificing the groove, finding the difficult balance between innovative and approachable. Sprinkle in some of the best sampling in recent times (which range from film dialogue to rap bars) and it’s easy to see why we’ve fallen in love with the artist. But we’re not the only ones – the producer’s achievements speak for themselves: from impressive play counts across Spotify to sets with iconic tastemaking event brands like Brownies and Lemonade, and DEF. He’s also become a favorite among DJs and fans alike landing a spot as one of Beatport’s Top-Selling Trap/Future Bass artists (ahead of RL Grime) and releasing two of the Top 10 Trap/Future Bass Songs of 2024 on the platform with ‘Like Me’ and ‘Ya Body’.  If Nikita, The Wicked is dance music’s villain, heroes beware, he’s coming for your spot with a vengeance.
-C

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Sorza

Despite launching his solo project a few years back, and even appearing on our Focus Five segment in April 2023, there is no denying that 2024 was a breakout year for Sorza. When we first featured the Dutch artist early last year, he had a mere 600 SoundCloud followers, and probably a similar number of monthly listeners on Spotify. Since then, the Sorza project has taken off into full flight, largely aided by the stellar ten-track Pillars project released via VISION. In addition to the album, Sorza recently released an audiovisual accompaniment to Pillars, further demonstrating his boundary-pushing creativity. Boasting a sound that resonates perfectly with the FUXWITHIT audience, we had the extreme pleasure of hosting Sorza for a guest mix and interview back in August, where the artist verbally and sonically showcased his wide range of influences, while also touching on topics such as the origin of Sorza and where he sees himself in five years. All in all, it’s been a huge year for Sorza, and we can’t wait to keep following him on his journey.
-SC

Simula

Simula has been at the forefront of designing some of the raunchiest drum and bass around for all of 2024. If we had done this piece for 2023, he would’ve been a contender for this spot last year too. His remix of Hamdi’s ‘Counting,’ released on Deadbeats in February, helped to catapult his name into the ears of mainstream audiences everywhere as the track made its rounds on festival stages and in DJ sets worldwide. April saw the drop of the Salvo EP with four absolutely mind-bending tunes that hit like a good kind of sonic whiplash. September blessed us with the release of the third installment of his self-titled mix series on SoundCloud, stuffed to the brim with IDs that I’m certain people will be begging for in the comments for many more months to come (myself included). While his output this year hasn’t quite hit last year’s level in terms of number of tracks, Simula seems to be taking the approach of quality over quantity here and it shows. His latest track, ‘Maw,’ released only five days ago, might be the last we hear from him before the year is over. It’s a proper “fuck off” sound that demands a stank face with middle fingers in the air. I have no doubt that 2025 is going to be huge for Simula, and I hope to hear the man himself on those festival stages instead of just his tracks being played out.
-BG

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Words by Braden, Colin, John & Steph.

The post Breakout Producers Of 2024 appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

He’s taking no prisoners and we guarantee he’s going to have a successful and wonderful year. And it’s with our great honor and pleasure to welcome him with his very own guest mix and interview! We’ll dive down to the origins of his story while his hypnotic mix will leave you nothing but satisfied. So don’t sleep because this mix is going to blow your mind. The future is looking quite bright for him and this style of music.

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First off thank you so much for taking the time for this interview! How’re you doing?

Good! Appreciate you all reaching out! It’s an honor to do a mix for the FUXWITHIT fam. And just finally getting a chance to finish some other projects now that the EP is done, keeping healthy, working hard.

What can listeners expect when diving into this wild journey?

For anyone familiar with my work this mix will feel like a follow-up to my showcase mix I put out last year, with the addition of some unreleased music from me, my friends, and peers. Naturally, I also had to add some of the classic KILLMATTER tropes like the vhs tape cuts and dialogue throughout. Listeners can also expect to hear about 9 unreleased tracks/demos from me as well. If you are unfamiliar with my tunes, this will be a good introduction as to what style represents me best.

The KILLMATTER project has shown such incredible growth and evolution, what’re the origins of the name and the project overall?

The name was something I toyed with when I had first started making music years ago. Was always inspired by names like Ghostface Killah/Rage Against the Machine. My first name is Matthew so it was sort of a play off that. Originally KILLMATTER was a side project where I wanted to try to combine my music with the feeling of flipping through an endless amount of tv channels. My first 2 singles under KILLMATTER (‘VHS1/X-BEATRADIO’) are actually a weird mess of exactly that, using a lot of random footage I found to try to create some sort of narrative. As the project progressed I started to make it all feel cohesive and made the intention to use footage and dialogue that coincided with my music and the messaging.

I think most of my affinity for music comes from my mom though, she was adamant about introducing me to all kinds of music as a kid.

Are you the creative person in the family or do you have other members on the artistic side?

My mom was actually a dancer when she was a kid and my dad sang/played guitar. My uncle is also a painter and my grandfather on my dad’s side played French horn in a jazz band for a long time. I think most of my affinity for music comes from my mom though, she was adamant about introducing me to all kinds of music as a kid.

Your style has been nothing but consistent and eye-opening. Each one of your pieces contains so much crisp detail and switch-ups. Where do you get your inspiration?

As a kid my mom worked a lot, so I spent a lot of time on my own which sort of led me to television, video games, and early internet days of skate videos and CKY/Wildboyz insanity. I think a lot of inspiration comes from growing up and hearing all types of music in the media I ingested. In terms of my writing, I think a lot of it comes from my own fascination with TV/movies and more specifically storytelling. Production wise the big names like Skrillex, Noisia, Joyryde were eye-opening to me on what is possible with EDM and music in general for me. But I think it was guys like X&G and Nitepunk who opened my eyes to the potential of drum-oriented bass music and how I could fit into that. Most of my introduction to drum-heavy music within the electronic scene was Monkey Boy Breaks, Dreamcast era music, and The Prodigy. Hearing the way Nitepunk and X&G intertwined bass music with the music I loved as a kid blew my mind. As a lyricist, it also had me wildly excited for the potential of those types of productions with lyrics.

Congratulations on your debut EP! How long has it been in the works? What was the major goal behind it all?

Thank you so much and much love to the FUXWITHIT fam for showing the continued support on it, it’s been beyond cool. Incidentally, that EP had not been in the works that long. The oldest track on there was ‘Soaked In Wolfblood’ which was made about a year ago but most of those tracks I made months, some even weeks before the release. I think the biggest goal of this EP was to get a collection of works out that represented the current me and where I’m at mentally right now. I didn’t shop it to any labels, so I had more ability to dictate what I wanted on the EP, the track listing, lyrical content, etc. I had never actually done an EP like this before, even under other aliases, so it was honestly a great learning experience.

I just kept writing every day last year, notes and notes of random stuff until I felt ready to put it fully into my music.

We noticed you write and perform all your own vocals! So stellar. Tell us about that. How does that add to your overall process and writing formula?

Appreciate that a ton! I’m glad people dig it all to be honest. I have always written lyrics and for a long time did production for other people, while recommending lyrics to them on the side. On other projects, I occasionally added my vocals in as samples but for KILLMATTER I sort of knew out the gates that I wanted to do lyrically heavy music. ‘X-BEAT radio’ was the first time I tried it, and that was a great learning experience on how I could improve my lyrics within the context of EDM. Eventually I wrote ‘NITRO BURNOUT’ and the reaction to it made me feel like “yeah, this is some shit I can actually do” so I just kept writing every day last year, notes and notes of random stuff until I felt ready to put it fully into my music. In terms of my formula, I now write my instrumentals based on an idea as opposed to just throwing stuff at the wall like I used to, or making just a drop. Now, I tend to find a topic of interest and just dive into it. A lot of the time I end the track ends up being something I didn’t originally intend.

What are your top 5 production tools you always find yourself coming back to? Any favorite vst’s?

I don’t think many people would be surprised to know that a ton of my music is sample based. I endlessly dig through forums and dj tools for drums or vocal samples. I have had no proper training and learned entirely from YouTube/trial and error so grain of salt to any of my advice. In terms of VST’s I obviously am a nerd for Antares just because I add a lot of effects to my vocals. Detuned  vocal stacks are my jam. Serum is great for creating basslines, but the majority of the grit comes from the post effects like heavy distortion, detuning, and very specific eq placements. I’m on ableton and I am 100% a stock plugin advocate. I use heavy amps on everything, heavy distortion on everything, and glue compress like a mad man. I’ve been asked a few times (I think there might be a few reddits on it now lol) how I make my bass lines sound how they do. The trick to most of my basslines is that I stack and detune. I typically will take one bassline and stack it, sometimes even several times, and detune it like crazy with complex mode. I go a little insane with this, playing with formants, and a lot of the time it sounds horrible until it eventually doesn’t. I do it entirely by ear until it starts to sound like one singular sound. A little width, sidechain to the drum, you are good to go.

What kind of music were you listening to growing up?

Growing up my mom used to take me to the Barnes and Noble up the street from our house where she could work/read in the cafe area and I could go to the CD section and get totally lost in that world. The first 3 CDs I remember my mom getting me were 36 Chambers by Wu Tang Clan, Demon Days by Gorillaz, and Re: Animation by Linkin Park. Admittedly, my kid brain picked out those albums based solely on the covers at that time, but those albums ended up being what I pull from the most now. My earliest memory of being actually inspired to make music was playing JSRF on my friend’s Xbox when I was a kid. The music from that game blew my mind, I had no understanding as to how that could possibly be made, I was just used to seeing guitars and hearing people sing. That game soundtrack made a huge impact on me.

There is so much potential still within electronic music and I think we are just barely scratching the surface. I’m excited to keep exploring it all.

Where can you see the KILLMATTER project in a few years?

In a few years, I see the project reaching enough commercial success to enable me to have the luxury of creating 24/7. That means a steady release schedule, constantly trying new creative things, making affordable shows, and making affordable merchandise. All the while still making the art new, fun, meaningful, and accessible to everyone. I’d like to work with a multitude of incredibly talented people, and keep discovering new underground talent that can help progress the scene forward and not just rehash it to death. There is so much potential still within electronic music and I think we are just barely scratching the surface. I’m excited to keep exploring it all.

Do you have any interests or hobbies you like to immerse yourself in outside the music spectrum?

I find so much joy in doing creative stuff that usually when I’m not making music I’m trying to write or create something else. That could be a script or visualizer or short story or something random like that. I have to force myself to stop, get some exercise, and smell actual fresh air. I grew up surfing/skating, playing basketball, and tennis so I like to include some of that stuff into my day-to-day life as well. It is wildly important to be in nature as well, I’ve learned that as I got older, especially as the digital world becomes increasingly pushed. So I at least try to get outside multiple times a day to reconnect with the real world and ground myself a bit. Most of the time I find myself doing some sort of writing to some degree wherever I am and whatever I am doing.

If you could travel back in time, what year or environment would you go to and why?

That’s a tough question but honestly I would hit up the 90s just because all my favorite artists were coming up at that time. I always viewed the 90s as a time where creative spaces became less closed and different cultures were being introduced on a commercial scale. If I did go back I would have made sure I went to the Source Awards 95 and saw that piece of music history in real time. Also would have immediately gone to a Wu-Tang show with ODB before his passing, that seems like a must for me. Also Hulk Hogan WCW are you kidding me, brother? For sure 90s.

Stay sober, remain motivated, love yourself, don’t compare yourself, your friends are not all your friends, trust your voice, know your value.

If you could bestow some advice to your younger self, what would you tell him?

Stay sober, remain motivated, love yourself, don’t compare yourself, your friends are not all your friends, trust your voice, know your value.

Your artistic vision is truly strong and alive. What fuels your perseverance and overall dedication to put so much into it?

I think it’s almost a form of therapy for me. I think it reminds me of pieces of me that I’ve lost over time, which I think a lot of artists can relate to. I focus heavily on vision and dedicate so much time to that vision because the artists I respect and look up to do the same. For a long time I got caught up in numbers, it wasn’t until recently that I realized that the mentality of just challenging yourself to always improve, learn, and strive to do something new and innovative is more important than the numbers or result. At the end of the day music is supposed to be fun and keeping that in mind helps me stay dedicated and motivated.

Thank you again for joining us! Any final words for our readers and listeners out there?

Thank you so much for having me, it’s been a blessing having the support. Only thing I gotta say is shout out to everyone who has stuck with me through all my projects including this one. I’ve been through so many times in the past years where I wasn’t sure if music was meant for me at all but every time I started to genuinely give up someone would reach out with encouragement. That means everything to me, thank you. No plans to slow down now, tons more music this year, and some special announcements later in the year be on the lookout! Much love to the FUXWITHIT fam, thank you again for having me.

Tracklist:

The post Guest Mix + Interview – KILLMATTER appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

Alphafox

Looking for a perfect blend of lush lo-fi, sinister bass, and gritty hip-hop beats? Look no further than Alphafox. Despite being active on SoundCloud since as early as 2016, the Long Beach-based artist only recently caught my attention with his dope ALFA_WRLD-1 EP released via Ivy Lab’s Twenty Twenty London Recordings. Over six diverse tracks, Alphafox weaves his way through various flavours of beats with ease, keeping listeners hooked from start to finish. Take ‘Calling Me’ for example, where the producer delivers some signature SoundCloud trap laced with a unique swagger. ‘Ribs’ follows in similar fashion, but Alphafox takes a much darker turn with the second half of track, attesting to his beat-making versatility. This skill is equally present outside of the project, with dozens of wicked tracks featured on his profile. And, boasting less than 1k followers, there’s no denying that Alphafox is one to watch.
-SC

KILLMATTER

Lurking in the shadows deep within a swamp of lush greenery, this artist’s work will knock you for a loop. From breakbeat madness, house music, and constant stasis of energy, KILLMATTER is a name you’ll never forget. The passion and skill this artist has is immeasurable. Making hit after hit and completely being a true force of the sonic spectrum. There’s no telling what you’ll experience next due to his wide range of integrity and workflow. Mind-blowing sound design combined with top-tier sampling, he’s a mean force to be reckoned with.

‘LET GO!’ is the perfect example of what he’s all about. The raw arrangement from start to finish already makes you become hypnotized and addicted to his work. His attention to detail through every second makes your jaw drop with praise. Sampling Skip Marley and Popcaan was pure genius. Integrating such a unique space within. And completely switching up the environment from house to a breakbeat field and back to a house of craziness knocks you out of your seats in the best ways. Plus the bass design throughout really gets you dancing. There’s so much to love about this tune it’s mind-blowing.

His newest single, ‘NITRO BURNOUT’ is a hard-hitting meteor from out of space. Destroying any planet it comes into contact with. Featuring vocalist, Molly Shively, this track is a perfect addition to both artists’ roster of pure heat. Molly’s gorgeous vocals combined with KILLMATTER’s world of madness creates an ominous and spacious arrangement. Integrating those hip-hop vocals throughout works perfectly with the vision they’re portraying. Making this tune truly remarkable. Bravo to them both.
-JD

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The post Focus Five: Volume 64 appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

If you’re a fan of hard-hitting electronic music as a whole, you’re going to love what this compilation has to offer. Veterans such as BAARIC, BADLIKE, Xerxes, and more have returned to create absolute craters in planets with their weapons of pure raw energy. But we also have some brand new incomers such as CORTR, Cerdin, and even Bafu who have also developed special treats just for this beautiful compilation. Each track highlights a brand new side to these artists while paying homage to what makes the OTHERWRLD brand so special. Hard-hitting sound design, top-notch arrangements, and melodies to cleanse your mindsets. These are only a couple of qualities that make this second compilation remarkable to the ear. Easily breaking the replay button to forever listen to these cinematic masterpieces. So make sure to show your support by streaming HORIZON 002 everywhere via OTHERWRLD! We’re truly proud of everyone and are excited to hear what’s next!

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The post OTHERWRLD Conquer Galaxies And Life Beyond With Their ‘HORIZON 002’ Compilation appeared first on FUXWITHIT.