Nawtystep - Big Bass Bulletin - November 2nd

It's Monday, and so time for a new BBB!

ENJOY

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NEWS

Space Laces drops latest track 'KABOOM'

Space Laces fans (absolutely every single one of us) are eating good this year. Last Friday, the Mix King himself Ian Slider released his 5th single of 2026 so far, a 3min 18second track titled 'KABOOM' for his own High Vaultage imprint. This hot-off-the-press cut follows 'STAXX' with Dillon Francis, 'AIRTIGHT', 'Hazard Pay' and 'True Killers' with Excision, whilst he also featured on Getter's latest EP DOOM 2 which dropped in mid April. I think it's safe to say that Mr. Slider is getting into a bit of a rhythm with his releases, and it leaves me excited to think about which steps he'll make with his discography next. How far away are we from VAULTAGE 005? Will we get another EP before we get a debut, full-length album? Could we even see another brief hiatus from releasing before too long? The answers to these questions remain to be seen, but it's nice to see him consistently putting tunes out, where a perfectionist mindset and approach has potentially got in the way of that previously. Here's hoping we get even more from him in the near future!

I've yet to hear 'KABOOM', but will be checking it out at some point this week via stream on Twitch, so make sure to tune in when I go live!

'KABOOM' link: https://soundcloud.com/space-laces/kaboom

What are you guys making of Space Laces' latest track? Drop your thoughts on it in the comments!

MUSIC

Excision celebrates Virus album and teases next LP

Are we nearing Excision album number seven? Last week, the modern Dubstep godfather took to social media to commemorate 10 years since the release of one of his most famed projects - the 16-track Virus - before hinting towards the drop of his first full-length LP since January 2022's Onyx. In his post, Ex, real name Jeff Abel, wrote: 'So many great memories tied to those tracks [on Virus]. I'm glad they're still resonating with you guys all these years later.' Abel then went on to write, 'The next album is in the works. I can't wait to start sharing it with you guys next year!' as he seamlessly tied past and future together in the post.

Am I looking forward to a new Excision album? In principle, yes, because it can only really go upward from the severe disappointment that Onyx was. He still has to do the thing of making better tracks of course, but my feeling is that given the pushback that Onyx got from a lot of fans in the scene, I imagine he will have registered that and vowed to make more forward-thinking ideas for this next long-form collection. 2022 was a weird time just out of the worst of Covid, and it's possible that affected the music that Abel was making. When he starts sharing tracks from the new album next year, it'll be 5 years on from Onyx, and I'd like to think that's a good amount of time to write ideas, concepts and tracks worthy of an Excision LP. Regardless, I look forward to it, and am already excited for the First Listen stream for it on Twitch whenever the album's out in full

The Killed It! megacollab

The Disciple Records legacy continues! Last week, BARELY ALIVE's label Killed It! followed in the footsteps of their previous employers to put out their very own megacollab, featuring some of the biggest names in the underground of Brostep. The track comes in at just under 4 minutes, and features the likes of BARELY ALIVE themselves, King Worm, Sample Bandit, Marcix, Altair, Edison Cole and many more. The track was started during Lost Lands week, with a lot of the artists joining forces for a big B2B on the festival's first day, where I'm sure the track would've been played out live. Even if it is a copy of what Disciple did with 'We Don't Play, 'Get Lemon' and more, it's a great thing to go ahead with as a showcase of how much Brostep music is thriving within the Bass scene at the moment.

The tune is titled 'Can We Call It Something Besides Brostep?', which doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but aptly captures the collective angst that fans and followers often have with using that term for a Dubstep sub-genre. I shall be streaming a run-through of this alongside the new Space Laces track when I stream later this week, so make sure to tune in to that!

Stream 'Can We Call It Something Besides Brostep?': https://soundcloud.com/killeditrecs/megacollab2026

Have you guys checked out 'Can We Call It Something Besides Brostep?' yet? If so, what are you making of it?

Levity announce new project

Bass music trio of the moment Levity will be dropping their latest extensive project in a little over 10 days from now. The collection is called Escapism Vol. II, and will constitute as a direct follow-up to Escapism Vol. 1, which came out in September 2024. In an extensive announcement post, the group shared that the album will be 12 tracks long, and have a run time of exactly 42 minutes. The transitions will be mix-like and seamless, and they've labelled it as their 'most complex story' they've created yet. They went on to instruct fans and followers on how to listen to- and treat the LP, writing: 'The project is meant to be listened to from start to finish in one sitting with no distractions', which honestly I think is something that should be normalised more given the current short attention span pandemic we're living through. They were also clear about this project being a concept one - 'a complete story with a theme, message and narrative.'

Before we're able to hear the music itself, that's the kind of ambition I like to see from Bass artists, so I like this pre-release promotion a lot. And it's especially impressive from three producers, where they're deliberating over every single detail of the music. I'm always in awe of that, having experienced the trickiness of it before myself!

I will absolutely be covering this on Twitch once it drops. Are you guys looking forward to the release of Levity's latest multi-track collection?

Stray from Ivy Lab releases new music

Legendary duo Ivy Lab may be drawing the alias to a close, but its members are operating very much full steam ahead with their solo ventures. One half of the British pair, Jonathan Fogel, also puts music out as Stray, and last week released his first cut under that moniker since August 2015, when he dropped the 7-track, 30-minute EP Paradise. His new single is titled 'Pixie' and it comes in at 3.5 minutes, releasing on Ivy Lab's own label Twenty Twenty London. Just today, Fogel revealed it'll be part of a new 4-track EP of the same title.

It's great to get this alongside another new 4-track EP release from Sabre - Gove Kidao, the other half of Ivy Lab - for Drum & Bass label Critical Music, which dropped in mid-August. It can often be difficult to navigate your own individual pursuits whilst drawing a conjoined project to a close, but both Fogel and Kidao seem very happy with what they're gonna be doing going forward, and that's great to see. Linked below are their respective releases thus far, as well as an interview clip with them talking about their decision to bring Ivy Lab to a close, and pursue the aforementioned aliases again.

Stream Stray's 'Pixie': https://soundcloud.com/stray/pixie

Stream Sabre's Big Cat EP: https://soundcloud.com/critical-music/sets/sabre-big-cat-ep-1

Interview clip: https://www.instagram.com/p/Der8qGcFBZJ/?cplk=NzVoMmRtdnBrNjlj

Big Bass releases of the week

To go with the aforementioned above releases, we also got new, big-name single drops from G Jones, LYNY, TroyBoi, Shades (Alix Perez & EPROM), Visages, Calcium, Jon Casey and a collab from Lord Genmu & Shadient.

On the multi-track projects front, I'll point you in the direction of Figure's new Eatbrain EP BUGS! where he's furthering his exploration of Drum & Bass music, and further EPs from 1788-L, AVANCE and underground starlet zeroth. Interval Audio also dropped the 15th instalment of their Without God compilation series. Happy listening!

DISCUSSION

Remembering the EDM boom

This was an interesting little Resident Advisor interview segment with Boys Noize, famed electronic musician and one half of Dog Blood. He talks about how the classic EDM sound changed the electronic music industry, the pressure he felt to make music with big hooks, and how commercialised the general sound got in that period of time. Listening to him made me wonder about how many artists dislike what electronic music has broadly become, and whether collective focus is being concentrated towards the wrong things. How many EDM acts actually like the music and its surrounding scene, what it stands for?

Has the commerciality of electronic music reached its own tipping point, or is there still more of that to come? What are the next wild steps artists will take to bring attention to their brands? With short-form content being as prevalent as it is now, it's all about how much shock factor you can bring to your promotion beyond the music. Anyone can always go that step further, but what actually shocks people now? Or takes an audience aback? Regardless, it's incredible the extent to which that is the focus for a music career currently, and that has its own effect on what the art itself is like. A scene and industry steeped in short-form obsession is gonna prioritise that aspect in the product that said scene and industry can't function without. EDM was already commercial during its original boom, and that only ramps up in today's market, with the music becoming even more structured for money-making, and less about human soul and endeavour.

This era will be looked down upon even more than its predecessor - for those that really care at least. This same seems to be happening in large swathes of the Bass scene at the moment too, which I can only hope reaches a relative halt at some point soon. It's absolutely happening with Dubstep and Drum & Bass at the very least. But the halt really does have to happen, otherwise the essence of those communities will get more and more lost, and their identities will become near unrecognisable, drifting further and further away from what they originated as. Isn't that quite the sad thought for a wintry Monday evening?

Interview clip: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DfCYjSdArbr/?mdxt=cXprYjY0cDF2dTM=

What do you guys think - is commerciality currently ruining the Bass scene?

FUNNIES // COOL STUFF

Speed does or ... doesn't know what Dubstep is?

This is one of the most hilarious celebrity interactions of recent times. Gargantuan streamer IShowSpeed finds the electronic music duo Frost Children outside a studio and says "Y'all look interesting." Frost Children say "You wanna make some Dubstep?" and Speed wonders what that is before falsely remembering it as a kind of dance move. The confusion all round is fantastic, and well worth a watch.

Clip: https://x.com/crank2themax/status/2115559272499319276/video/1?s=46

The track they freestyled together: https://x.com/fade0utz/status/2115594147461771378?a=Kpweg2NJl32lh5O_0Ys&s=46

Some great Dubstep lore

This is some great history relaying from Instagram user @lowusounds. Good, ordered, structured details, and well worth a watch if you want some nuance as to how Dubstep became what it is today.

Reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DfDIGXtIufR/?rpxt=aHFtbnB1aDUwdGl3

Oddprophet, ladies and gentlemen

Just leaving this screenshot and reel link combo here without saying anything else. Happy belated Halloween all!

Reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DfIfvQLutoB/?exln=YXR3ZjdrMGltcDFz

I suppose?

Sometimes you look at a tweet and just do a polite little nod to yourself, you know?

Is that right?

Some people are simply too internet-brained for their own good, aren't they?

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Did I miss anything from the last week in Bass music? Let me know below!