Since ‘Hidden Aura’ is exactly what a wave fan can expect from a classic Klimeks tune (in short, a perfectly balanced mix of trap drums, trancey leads, plucks, and pads), I’d like to take a moment to thank him for the influence he had on my life as a music fan. To do so, I’d like to quote a passage I feel very much in tune with. “Klimeks, […] was one of the very first Wave guys who I listened to, and one of the guys who got me so deeply hooked to the scene. Without the emotional depth Klimeks achieves in his work, I may have never been moved to write this blog.” This is an extract of an interview with Klimeks written by Sapphire Plant back in 2016 on her blog Lucid Steps. The very first outlet to intensively cover wave back in the days. These words resonate so much with me because they accurately reflect also my own experience. Without the power of Klimek’s music and the passion he infused into wavemob, I wouldn’t probably be here writing these words and I’d have missed out on memorable life experiences. Without further ado: thank you Klimeks, I owe you a lot!

Stream ‘Hidden Aura’ below or on your favorite platform and be sure to dig deep into Klimek’s bewitching catalog.

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The post Klimeks Delivers Another Wave Masterpiece ‘Hidden Aura’ appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

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I remember it like it was yesterday. Plastician would put out the call on his socials to send him a SoundCloud DM with new beats for him to play out. The peeps who messaged him were mostly a bunch of kids and early 20-somethings, responding from their bedrooms, on their laptops, with pirated copies of audio software and the Lex Lugar sound pack, making beats. They didn’t make them for the club (they probably hadn’t set foot in a club in their life), they made beats for themselves and their peers, and it was a time of splendor on SoundCloud. On Rinse, Plastician would transition to these tunes that were usually made without a DJ intro, and he often referred to them as “wavy bits.”

Right away, having clocked onto this sound in 2014, I knew that if I heard someone get played out on Rinse on Plastician’s show, I should follow them. I was almost always in the comments section of the SoundCloud upload of the radio show that went up the next day, asking for track IDs and networking with other people who also dropped a comment. I found Kareful, Sorsari, Skit, Noah B, Øfdream, WTCHCRFT, and tons of others that way. I started making my own beats, which I had largely given up on doing after an unsuccessful journey in the early days of dubstep in the USA, and after I made a few I sent them to Plastician. He even previewed the first few, but didn’t download them. That was okay, I knew they weren’t that good, but it was cool that he took the time to listen.

It was around this time when a bunch of the artists I had followed earlier formed their own collective and they called it Wavemob. They were all tagging their genres the same, calling it something generic. At first, I wasn’t so sure I liked it but it had a simplicity to it. They called their music “wave.” They released their first compilation, and I got excited and was inspired to up my producing game. I had moved to New York City from my small Iowa town, and while I was making the best music I had ever made, I still wasn’t sure if anything I laid down was worth a damn. My mixdowns were choppy, and not as loud as some, but my ideas were solid, and at the least, I was making something that I liked, so I sent Plastician another DM with the download enabled, and I made sure to name the song file properly (“Artist Name – Song Name” and this is still relevant today). His exceptionally basic response changed my life, “Grabbed this cheers”…

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Ummmmm, WHAT.

I tried not to get my hopes up. Yes, he downloaded the song, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to play it out, right? Nevertheless, I tuned into his radio show, which played at 2PM Eastern Time, in the middle of my workday, and all of the sudden I heard it. The intro of the song I sent, and then he announced my artist name. I couldn’t believe it. I was sitting at my desk with my earbuds connected to my work computer, and the adrenaline was coursing. I was listening to MY OWN music on Rinse. My colleagues were oblivious to the catharsis I was experiencing, squirming in my seat. I may have made a high-pitched sound after the song played, but no one really heard so did it really happen? I was glued to the Rinse SoundCloud channel waiting for that upload. When it came up, I immediately commented on my own song and was so grateful all week to Plastician. I’d often go back in and see who else was commenting and who else got played that week, and one guy stood out to me in particular, it was a man calling himself M!NGO. This was another guy who got one of his first plays on Rinse that week so I followed him. I heard his tunes. I eventually reached out to see if he wanted to collab, one of the first times I’d ever reached out like this. I thought it was a long shot, but hey, Plastician playing one of my songs on freaking RINSE was a longshot. For a few days I didn’t hear a response from the guy until eventually, I got a DM back. “Yo Fam When You Want To Collab? I’m ready if you are!!!”

Not long after, I was rolling through Colorado on my way to my friend’s wedding and I came in a day early to meet up with the man. Jordan Wilkinson is an exceptionally tall human, and if his demeanor hadn’t been so friendly I likely would have been intimidated. He came out to the street after I parked and led me into a nearby house. Apparently, he was staying in the basement of his friend’s parent’s house, both of whom were deaf. Next to a dank, humid, and unfinished basement room, he had a DJ controller and a laptop on a standing desk. We talked for a few minutes but quickly started making a beat, another shot in the dark as I really hadn’t collaborated with anyone in person at that point. We found a decent drop for us at the time, and started on an intro. I remembered a scene from True Detective and figured a little cinematic quote would be appropriate for this vibe, so I threw that in there. The two hours I had to meet flew by, but we had the bare bones of a song.

A week later, Jordan finished it and sent it to me. I forwarded it on to Plastician who downloaded it again. Then Plastician messages me, “this is dope u mind if I hold this one back for the wave pool mix?” He eventually signed ‘Rebirth‘ to Terrorhythm, and you can still hear it on the Wavepool 2 compilation, the first wave-centric compilation Plastician ever put out. It wasn’t a definitive compilation of the kind Wavemob would put out, but it was definitely up there in all-time highlights for me to this day. Looking back, we are fortunate in that it’s not hard to experience the feeling of wave music from that time. We still have a direct window into the past with Rinse’s SoundCloud as they conveniently have an archive of all of Plastician’s shows (here and here you can find some of my favorites). And of course, no post about these times would be complete mentioning the epic finale. Did Plastician book Skepta again for his final show? Nah, it was Skit, Kareful, Klasey Jones, and LTHL. Going out the way the man came in. Pushing the underground.

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After Plastician’s show came to an end there was a significant void left, which many tried to fill, myself included. After I moved back to Iowa, I founded a radio show that M!NGO helped me name “vibe.digital.” I was astonished at the excitement and support it generated from friends, fans, and especially fellow artists worldwide. I started to receive exclusive songs to play out on the radio show, including one from M!NGO and Pinknokia entitled, ‘Missed Call’. I did my best to help M!NGO submit that one to all the labels putting out the wave sound at that time, but to no avail, no one would sign. On the phone with Jordan I remember succinctly telling him… “Who is going to sign ‘Missed Call’?! Why won’t anyone sign it? Goddam, who is going to sign it…?” Then I paused and realized, oh shit. I am going to sign it.  And that’s the story of how vibe.digital as a record label started.

Plastician’s early input into our scene was incalculable. The amount he was consistently doing to reach down and pull up artists like Deadcrow, Sorsari, Noah B, Kareful, Skit, and so many others is the stuff of legends now. The rise of successful and sold-out wave shows around the world today can be directly tied back to Plastician’s early support of our scene. We’ll always remember and I’ll always be grateful. 

– Written by Donald “Fyoomz” Revolinski.

Follow Fyoomz
SoundCloud | Spotify | Audius | Twitter | Instagram

Follow vibe.digital 
SoundCloud | Spotify | Audius | Twitter | Instagram

The post Plastician And The Founding Of A New Genre appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

To escape this condition I knew I needed a push. A motivation stronger than all the delusions that were holding me back. To be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting it to come from the most “virtual” of the music genres that I regularly listen to: wave. When the Liquid Ritual event was announced, I immediately realized that it could be the turning point I was waiting for. I’ve listened to a lot of music since I was a little kid, but I’ve always struggled to develop a sense of belonging to any particular community within any music genre. With wave it has always been different though. Whether it’s because I’ve been able to witness firsthand most of its history, because it is still a relatively small circle or simply because of the quality of its members, I have always felt an unprecedented affinity with this niche. Moved by both hope, a newfound excitement, and a huge dose of anxiety too, I eventually jumped on a plane and headed to London.

What did I (re)discover? That listening to wave in a dark room alone is amazing, but listening to wave in a dark room filled with passionate people is next level. These two nights at Bar A Bar have taught me how to love the dancefloor again, they fulfilled so many buried raver fantasies, and brought back a version of myself I’ve craved to be. Singing ‘Tel Aviv’ at the top of my lungs, losing my mind at the first notes of Deadcrow’s set, waving (pun intended) to the notes of classics played by Kareful at 3 in the morning. All experiences that may sound common to those of you who are lucky enough to regularly go to concerts, but that have been missing from my life for too long. As far as I’m concerned, that’s why I’m so grateful to the Liquid Ritual team. Not just for the mere fact of having organized an event and physically bringing artists and fans in one place. But for having restored and reshaped my passion for live music. For having brought my dreams alive.

Last night, wave saved my life.

Cover photo by kaleidokitty

The post Last Night Wave Saved My Life appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

“There’s no denying that wave has become a true force in electronic music in recent years, and we felt it was time to give this sound its own space”. These are the words of the iconic Jordan Mafi, Curation Manager at Beatport who has worked for the past six months alongside the teams of Liquid Ritual, vibe.digital, Wave Stage and many other pivotal figures in the scene to finalize what can be considered the first official consecration of the genre by an “institutional” music platform within the music scene. Besides the practical implications of this announcement, which include that artists will finally be able to see their music correctly represented on the platform without having to use the most disparate genres, this move has a huge impact on a cultural level.

As Kareful already hinted to us in the History of Wave editorial, “Since 2017 we’ve been fighting tooth and nail with the music industry to accept wave as a genre, often being ignored or being mocked for believing in this sound.” The direct endorsement of a giant like Beatport, which joins all the independent curators who have embraced the movement in recent times, will open many more doors and multiply the opportunities for further expansion and growth for the genre. On this point Kareful continues, “Now that wave is an official genre on Beatport, it will mean that other platforms are going to have to start taking us more seriously as a genre, and will hopefully follow suit. We won’t rest until Spotify one day creates an official Wave editorial playlist. Which would be a game-changer for all the artists in the scene.” Accustomed as we are to observe in a rather passive way the hegemonic power of corporations, algorithms and platforms, seeing how a united and dedicated community, with patience and effort, has succeeded to reach one goal after another is a source of immense inspiration. This is a wake-up call that reminds us that we can and must think big, and that music is first of all ours, of the artists and fans, and we have a responsibility and duties towards the world we want to live in.

“Remains to be seen what effect this will have on the sound […] but I’m super excited for all producers to have this spotlight shone on them.” Being a careful person, I see myself a lot in these words by Plastician, but for now I believe it’s just time to celebrate. Congratulation to every single soul involved in the wave scene, not bad for a marketing tactic!

The post Wave Has Been Officially Added As Genre Category On Beatport appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

From that moment, for the following years as a blogger and as a fan I’ve carefully followed the growth of the movement and tried to do my little part in it. Wavemob and the_accidental_poet were my very first guides, followed by Yume, Liquid Ritual, and more recently, vibe.digital and IMMINENT Collective. Having witnessed how they (and many others of course) turned the term wave from an ambiguous label into a blazon representing a flourishing movement at the forefront of bass music has been an absolutely unique experience. Although 2020 will probably be remembered as the dark year, we cannot ignore instead how it was a period of exponential growth for wave. In the past twelve months, a good part of the bass scene realized what was happening behind the curtain and hungry for new sounds, has allowed itself to be immersed in the genre.

After a year of growth, it felt right and appropriate to me to take a moment to reflect and go back to the origins. In a world like the music industry, where too often culture is completely supplanted by business, I believe that the knowledge of our roots and where the music we listen to comes from is essential to ensure a bright future for the scene. I’m definitely not here to nostalgically defend what has been or to demonize what is new. Personally, I believe that without the “new” there is no evolution and therefore no future, but without “old” there is no identity and therefore no survival. In order to try to create a bridge between these two worlds and celebrate the history of wave, I decided to get in touch with no other than Kareful. As a pioneer whose story literally matches with the history of the movement itself, I consider him the right person to travel back to the beginning of this great journey with. In virtue of his role as an active producer and co-founder of Liquid Ritual, his knowledge spans not only across the years but also across multiple pivotal points of view.

When and how did it all begin? Where do the foundations of the wave lie? Who are its main players? This interview is not meant to be a complete encyclopedia but more of an access point through which to learn the essential know-how about this incredible genre and the culture that has emerged from it.

For a complete experience, while reading the interview I highly suggest you listen to Kareful’s History of Wave Mix.

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You are widely known as one of the OGs of the scene. You were there before even the “wave” label was coined and since then you’ve always been active both as a solo artist and with your label Liquid Ritual. If we had to draw a timeline of the movement for the new fans, when should it start?

So in the beginning, before the term wave was coined, we all just existed as a group of producers on SoundCloud. What we were doing was dipping in and out of different genres and borrowing tips from trap, cloud rap, Uk dubstep, grime, witch house, trance. Wave was basically an amalgamation of all these very different styles. Eventually, the sound was picked up by Plastician, who is known for being one of the early figures in grime and dubstep, and played in his Rinse FM show which was very influential. He played a lot of our music together and this is when we all started to realize that we were a lot more linked than we originally thought. After that, the first generation of collectives such as wavemob started to appear and this is also when the term wave started becoming accepted. The process has been pretty controversial though. When people started calling the music “wave” not everyone immediately accepted the term, but later on, it just felt fitting. We obviously started playing shows and releasing compilations together, collaborating more and more, and eventually other collectives and labels started forming around specific interpretations of the sound. For example, I ended up leaving Wavemob and I started my own label named Liquid Ritual. With it, I focused more on the UK and club-oriented style of wave, which I suppose was an early form of the hardwave one that it’s starting to get popular now.

It was no longer an online genre. We had the video and photographic evidence to argue that the genre was real.

What milestones have indelibly marked the history of wave up to this point? 

‘The Wave Pool’ mix (2015) made by Plastician is hands down one of the most pivotal moments in the history of wave. This was when a lot of the press started following the scene and a lot of producers started to get more interested in the sound. After that, it’s important to recall the big articles that were published back in the days. Especially the Mixmag, and UKF one, both published around 2017, were really important for the development of the scene. A lot of the early shows were determining moments for the identity of the movement, Skit’s Yusoul and Plastician’s Survey London nights above the others. I think the footage from these big events inspired a lot of producers around the world. They showed that wave wasn’t just a little online niche but it was happening in real life. The vibe.digital guys did the same a bit after in America, which has been fundamental for the growth of the international community. They started building a proper scene by throwing local shows and organizing tours also for European artists, which was incredible. I believe I also have a part in it too. While touring with Orbital in their “Comeback tour” for example I was able to play wave and introduce the genre to massive crowds of like 5 thousand people. Last but not least, the Liquid Ritual launch party where Lil Peep played was probably one of the biggest milestones in my career. We had this venue packed with excited kids and that was when I started really thinking “okay, this sound is going somewhere.” It was no longer an online genre. We had the video and photographic evidence to argue that the genre was real.

Who are the other pivotal figures in the birth and rise of the scene that every fan should know and acknowledge?

In addition to those I’ve already mentioned, Plastician, Skit and myself, I think is essential to reckon and remember the role of Trashlord, Brothel, Noah B, Klimeks, Ofdream (rip), and pretty much everyone else in the wavemob crew in the early stages. In more recent times instead, I think the artists who have had the greatest impact recently on the scene are skeler and Deadcrow.

Especially in its origins, wave was essentially a DIY, digital-based movement. Where did the first generation of artists and fans get in touch? Is there a certain platform that acted as a nest for the community more than others?

Originally it started on SoundCloud, but we didn’t really talk and engage much there. Things changed when Skype came along and a lot of producers started using this platform to connect and create huge group chats. There were loads of them! It wasn’t just with the wave guys but basically with all the main genres on SoundCloud at the time like witch house, trap, future bass. Later on came, of course, Facebook with its Groups. The ‘Wave City’ one was very important for a lot of people networking in the scene. Discord became extremely important too. The Wavepool Discord server at one point was really, really popular and pretty much everyone who was anyone in the scene was active there. Always talking about Wavepool, I believe its Reddit page has always been very important for music discovery.

In which other genres/scenes are the roots of wave set? In an electronic music family tree what would we find near it?

As I said before, wave sort of borrows bits and pieces from everything that’s ever come before. Bits of drum & bass, UK dubstep, garage, future garage, trance. It was just a natural progression. Anyway, I’d say you’re going to hear the influence mostly of SoundCloud music like trap, cloud rap and witch house. I’ve always described wave as a cleaner and more cyberpunk version of witch house or a term I’ve been using recently to describe wave would be ‘half time trance’.

The interesting thing about wave compared to a lot of other electronic music genres is that it didn’t have a real concreted bpm range when it first came out.

Going even deeper into nerd stuff, what are the lowest common denominators of wave tracks when it comes to production?

Elements you’re going to find in every wave track are, first of all, a lot of atmosphere. Of course re space is very routed to sound. Big saw wave leads, square wave leads, plucks, trancey leads, pads of course. The trap drums and stuff like 808 are essential to me. That’s pretty much everything you need to make a wave track. If you’ve got all those elements, it’s going to sound pretty wavy. The interesting thing about wave compared to a lot of other electronic music genres is that it didn’t have a real concreted bpm range when it first came out. The tracks used to go anywhere from like 100 bpm to like 155 bpm. The hardwave stuff that came later is even a little bit faster, around 140bpm to 160bpm, but most of the old wave stuff was pretty much around 120/130 bpm. Personally, I’ve always preferred the 140 bpm range. Being from the UK it’s just like a very comfortable tempo for us because it’s easier to sync it to dubstep and grime.

New sounds always start by copying the ones already existing and then they develop their own identities. However, seeing such points of view promoted in an article seemed unfair and honestly, driven just from jealousy.

Back in 2017, Noisey published this article titled “Wave Music Is a Marketing Tactic, Not a Microgenre.” Three years later, how would you answer this provocation? 

When Noisey published that article I was pretty shocked so I didn’t really understand it. It kind of felt like it tore apart and poke fun at the Mixmag article, which was great instead. I felt it was just a side effect of a sort of hysteria that happened in the neighboring music scenes in the UK. Maybe at the time a lot of people felt a little bit frightened by wave because we were getting so much attention despite being a DIY movement made by young kids. We were well aware that lots of people were snobbing wave because it was too lo-fi and DIY compared to more established genres at the time. Another of the most popular “accuses” that outsiders were moving us was that wave sounded too similar to other genres. But let’s face it, this is something that happens every time. New sounds always start by copying the ones already existing and then they develop their own identities. However, seeing such points of view promoted in an article seemed unfair and honestly, driven just from jealousy.

What can you tell us about this History of Wave Mix?

I dug through my old hard drive to find some music I was playing in 2015. To my surprise, I rediscovered so many important wave classics that had been totally forgotten. Mostly because the artists are no longer active or the tracks were deleted a long time ago. I also decided to include some of the Wave classics into this mix for a couple of reasons: they’re some of the best and most influential wave tracks and two to give the newcomers a crash course in the sound. If you listen to my mixes these days I usually start around the 140 bpm mark and it slowly gets faster and faster as the mixes go on. I wanted to keep this mix true to the sound, so started off around 110 pm eventually ending at 130 bpm. This is a very moody mix, I highly recommend it with a drive around the city late at night. Enjoy!

This article is the first part of a series dedicated to the wave scene. The next issue will focus on what the future holds for the genre and, alongside Kareful, it will feature Deadcrow, Fyoomz, skeler and IMMINENT Collective.

Tracklist:
CVRL – Rodijus
Silk Road Assassins – T (Peace Edit)
Foxwedding – U Should Chill
Brothel & Sidewalks and Skeletons – Dissolution
Plastician – Tainted
Whispa – l a s t y e a r i w a s n t e v e n w h i s p a
Sorrysines – Walker
Trashlord – Ghostchant ft. Glo & Madi Larson
2nervous2be – I’m Worthless
Kareful – Remember This if Anything
Tyler – Touching
CVRL – Subtefuge
Whispa – Tokyo
Sorsari – Children of Gaia
Klasey Jones – Cement
Foxwedding – Bare
Yedgar & Harukasuka – Silk
Kareful – I Loved a Witch Once
Deadcrow – Yawn
Plastician – Windwalker
Noah B – Cathedral
Klimeks – Dreamscape 95
Compa – Pain
Trashlord – Howls (Deadcrow Remix)
Kareful – She Through Her
Skit & Klimeks – Terminal
Skit & Kareful – Luminoscity

The post History Of Wave: The Origins Of A Futuristic Sound appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

As anticipated in the ‘Hardwave‘ mix, ‘Flow Away’ has arrived early this month with its massive emotional and adrenalinic charge. A quick glance in the comment section will show you how powerful this song is: “this tune give me hope in a hopless world,” “your music it gets me through even the hardest of days,” “If you ever wondered what heaven sounds like,” are just some of the fans’ statements you can read. Believe me, as many of them, you won’t need to understand the Russian lyrics to feel the moment. Independent from the language, the angelic voice of the alternative Russian singer ELLA (the sample comes from her 2019 hit ‘NBA’) can be enjoyed also as a instrument on its own. Its delicacy stands out among the massive sonic wave made of icy synths and endless reverbs like a sandcastle proudly withstanding the morning tide, shaping with its fragile presence that mystical space where the sea meets the land, where our dreams clash with the reality.

After the 24th listen, I still can’t say if ‘Flow Away’s extremely short length is a positive or negative trait. What instead I know for sure is that I’m obsessed with this track, and when the sun goes down, I press that repeat button on SoundCloud and I let it flow again and again.

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The post Skeler’s ‘Flow Away’ Is Pure Wave Poetry appeared first on FUXWITHIT.

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