It can be hard for an artist to stick to the roots of their projects sound and style when releasing new music in the ever changing electronic scene nowadays. Styles change and evolve over time, but it is always refreshing to see artists hone in on what their soundscape really is without feeling like they need to keep up with the current trends. Canadian based bass “sensai” ill.Gates demonstrates this time and time again while putting out absolute bangers through the years. Today we are honored to be able to premiere his latest track with artist Def3 “Smoke”, that takes us back to the roots of his project’s origin. Staying true to his original sound, this track is nothing short of a stomper of a high-energy “Fatboy Slim meets Rage Against the Machine” tune that instantly transports listeners to the Golden Era of rap music. Not only does this have the classic catchy hip hop vocals, but it’s funky basslines and uptempo beat makes this a track you do not want to miss. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling “Smoke”, a certified bop.

1. What has been a personal career struggle that you have battled with the most and how has it helped mold your character for the better good presently?

As tempting as it is to point at some external obstacle and blame it for whatever difficulties I’ve encountered in my path I have come to realize that attitude is not productive. It’s like when you meet someone and all they ever talk about is being a victim, or how everyone else is so stupid and they’re the only sane, intelligent person on earth. That shit gets old real fast and frankly: constantly self identifying as a victim (even when you ARE victimized) usually does more harm than good. Save that victim’s act for the courtroom.

 So the honest answer to your question is this: like all full time creative professionals my biggest obstacle is – and has always been – (drumroll….) MYSELF! 

Usually it’s overthinking, irrational aversions, or assuming I ‘know all about’ something when actually I was just scratching the surface. Time and again I’ll have some HUGE breakthrough and then find myself in this bittersweet moment of realization that there was absolutely nothing stopping me from having the breakthrough years ago except for the fact that I couldn’t quite grasp the concept yet. These moments of realization are why I started teaching my weekly class at TheWeeklyDownload.com. It’s download 300 this week too! So much to celebrate…

Right!

So for those of you readers out there I will say this:

Don’t believe everything you think. You are not your brain. You are not your thoughts. 

Don’t feel like your value as a human being depends on being ‘the best’ at anything or being ‘right’ all the time. It doesn’t. Anyone who judges your worth based on how good you are at music, or how hot you are or how much money you have is not making valid judgements and is probably a garbage person themselves with a big ol’ bag of dog shit where their heart is supposed to be. IF (and this is a BIG ‘if’) you’re going to judge anyone it should be on how they treat those from which they have nothing to gain. If you’re a kind person and you’re not just trying to use other people to get ‘on top’ all day then guess what: you have intrinsic value that nobody can ever take away from you. When you realize the truth of that statement you’ll be able to offer yourself that same compassion and your ego can allow yourself to be wrong sometimes. When you’re not resisting being wrong all the time (and lying to yourself about it) you can realize when you’re wrong about something, change your mind, and then grow as person. It’s ok to be wrong sometimes! 

It’s ok to be bad at stuff while you’re learning. I’d rather hang out with a kind, loving idiot than a genius asshole any day of the week.

2. What is your biggest inspiration to this day that has helped shape your style of music and why?

This one’s a bit easier for me to answer, but my answer will probably not what you’re expecting and it might take a bit to unpack.

 My biggest inspiration is (and will likely always be) my own inevitable death.

While that might sound dark or messed up at first it’s only because our current society is really weird when it comes to death and has all kinds of hangups about it. Other societies recognize that death is just the flip side of life and they don’t shut it out like we do. Asian style honoring of family ancestors or the Mexican Day Of The Dead are much healthier ways to approach it in my opinion. The Judeo- Christian/Euro-American approach to death is to either plug the ears and go ‘la la la la la! I can’t heeeeear you!’ or else shiver in existential terror of the fire and brimstone that most likely awaits you in the afterlife because of that one time you ate shrimp curry at a Thai restaurant (it’s in the Bible. You get in big trouble for eating shellfish. I’m not joking). It’s like: CHILL! Death is gonna happen no matter what! Don’t let it freak you out so bad!

I figure we might as well develop a healthy, productive relationship with death while we’re alive, right? OK, so here we go: 

Have you ever heard of a concept called ‘The Protestant Work Ethic’? The Protestant Church (popularized by King Henry VIII so he could get divorced) has this idea that you should suffer your whole life because there’s a big payday coming when you die and go to Heaven(tm). It’s in a lot of Christian sects but especially the Protestants. So the Puritans were a sect within the Protestant Church that got WAY too into this idea for the other Europeans – who presumably just wanted to fuck all day and eat fancy cheese – so they decided to leave Europe and come murder all the Native people in America and take their shit instead. Apparently that’s how you prove your moral superiority and get into Heaven(tm)? 

Anyway, this ‘Protestant Work Ethic’ idea turned out to be real effective for getting the Commoners to suck it up and work extra hard so that rich people could (you guessed it…) fuck all day and eat fancy cheese! This meant that the Protestant Work Ethic stuck around in North American culture until this day and (if you come from a Christian family like I do) you probably heard alllll about it from your older relatives. Usually it goes something like this:

“You might be having fun now, but life isn’t about having fun all the time. When are you going to grow up? God put you here to be fruitful and multiply, not dye your hair ungodly colors and listen to stupid beep boop noises all night! Get serious! Cut your hair! Join the Military! Get a good paying job! Start a family! We won’t be proud of you until you cross all of these things off of this list!” 

Does any of that sound familiar? So when I was growing up I kind of instinctively knew that whether God was real or not the idea of intentionally living a miserable life was toxic but I hadn’t really broken free from it quite yet. I’d been passionately pursuing my music but had always dismissed it as a side hustle because it wasn’t a ‘real job’, ie. a job that would be considered acceptable to ‘society’. I knew I had to do something creative so I was studying graphic design at the time and got this horrible internship at a wedding magazine because my design school teachers wanted to crush my non-conformity so I could be a happy little cog in the machine of industrial capitalism. I was miserable.

At the same time my ‘hobby’ had led to me getting signed to a record label and releasing a few singles on actual vinyl! I was so stoked to hold them in my hands…it was a trip! I’d just gotten back from my first tour to support these releases and I had just played my first ever set at Shambhala, which was a life changing experience. Back in Toronto it was hot as hell in my low rent high rise apartment and I’d been at my computer all day so I just needed to go outside and think for a bit. The park near my house was always full of junkies fencing stolen bikes or doing that weird chicken walk people do when they have JUST smoked meth (you know the one), so I was like: ‘where can I go that’s quiet, grassy, and chill?’

I decided to walk a couple blocks to the Toronto Necropolis (which is a huge ancient cemetery where all these famous old people are buried) and as soon as I made that decision it triggered a strange new feeling, but didn’t know what it was yet… I just felt somehow different. When I got there I realized that the cemetery was the perfect place for what I needed. It was huge, spooky, beautiful, and – most importantly – I was utterly alone. I walked and walked until I got to a real old part of the cemetery which felt like time had forgotten it. All the tombstones were half broken and the letters had worn off from the rain and snow, so I thought ‘this is perfect’ and I sat down to meditate. 

I meditated using reflected sunlight twinkling off this little puddle of water in a crack on the side of a fallen tombstone and I contemplated my life.

“Some day that will be me.” I thought, “Even the best efforts to preserve my grave will eventually come to ruin. The letters will wear off my tombstone. It too will break and fall over as it slowly turns back into sand… What would they even write on it that was so important? “Dylan was a good boy, he followed all the rules and did what he was told.”? Like… what does any of that shit really matter? Is anyone really keeping score? What if I live my whole life trying to appease this idea of ‘society’ that turns out to be wrong? What even is ‘society’? Aren’t I a part of ‘society’? Don’t my values matter to my own life?”

That was the moment it all changed. That was the moment I realized that the only ‘society’ whose values mattered to me in my real life was the society I chose for myself.

…aaaaaaand that’s the story of how I joined the Headbang Society!

Ba-dum tssssss!

Being able to stand out in the crowd as an up and coming riddim artist within today’s scene can be a challenge for most producers. However, today’s riddim producers going by Mike’s Revenge have given everyone else a run for their money, blowing everyone out of the water with their incredible music releases. Today’s premiere from this absolute bass wizards, Tomb, goes absolutely crazy, creating a hard and heavy soundscape that is not to be missed. The hard-hitting basslines and insane drops creates the perfect banger that will definitely have those high knees going. Mike’s Revenge definitely continues to deliver those high energy stompers that we never get tired of listening to. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling “Tomb”, a certified bop.

1. What is your biggest inspiration to this day that has helped shape your style of music and why?

Our biggest inspiration has to be our difference in cultural experiences and musical tastes that have helped enable us to blend middle eastern vibes with hard hitting electronic sounds.

2. What has been a personal career struggle that you have battled with the most and how has it helped mold your character for the better good presently?

A major career struggle that we face is not comparing our path to others and staying true to our sound and style. It has helped us understand and be more creative towards the vision that we want to bring to life with our music and brand.

Time and time again, we see incredible work coming from numerous up and coming names in the EDM scene. Alek Slon, better known to most as Rezi, makes the long awaited release of his EP on Morflo Records, Reflections, a 5 tune compilation is nothing short of madness, creating a heavy uptempo soundscape that is not to be missed. For today’s premiere off this incredible EP, “Black Hole”, Rezi teams up with Polish producer, Ankou, to bring forth an absolute stomper of a track that will transport listeners into space and through their black hole of sound.  Its heavy basslines and uptempo hard melody combine both styles of these two artists into one, showing off both of their sound melded into one stomper of a bass heavy tune. This one is definitely a track that will get you up and bouncing around with a bassface anytime you hear it. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling “Black Hole” and the rest of Rezi’s upcoming EP Adventus , a certified bop.

1. What is your biggest inspiration to this day that has helped shape your style of music and why?

 It’s hard to pin my inspiration down on something singular, because the growth of my personal sound has taken inspiration from multiple genres and artists. The sound I’m trying to create is an attempt at blending my love of heavy bass/dubstep with IDM themes that are more geared towards creativity. A sound that can go off on the dance floor, but also is just as satisfying when sitting down and listening through headphones. I have an array of inspirations from artists like CharlesTheFirst, KOAN Sound, Culprate and Ekcle to Virtual Riot, Moody Good, Mr. Bill and Vctre. As well as the friends Slang Dogs, Eugene, Underbelly, Jiqui and Cyclops; they inspire me constantly. Just trying to do something unique with my personal music taste. 

2. What has been a personal career struggle that you have battled with the most and how has it helped mold your character for the better good presently?

The biggest thing I’ve grappled with all these years is the constant cloud of uncertainty that comes with pursuing a career like this. Trying to make your place and create a life/career in an industry that’s over saturated with so much amazing art can be very daunting, difficult, and can make you feel like you’re not good enough because you think so many others are doing it better. It’s almost impossible to not compare yourself to others. On top of that, it’s really hard to make gameplans, because you don’t know who is going to accept you and believe in the project. With all those things combined, it can make you feel like it’s just not worth the stress. 

BUT, through my time working on this project, and grappling with such things, I have learned some things that have helped keep me sane while dealing with all this stuff. 

For one, you just cannot compare your sound to others. Your sound is a culmination of your tastes, techniques that you’ve come to fancy, and the things you’ve figured out that work for you. It is going to sound different then someone else’s because your artistic journey has been different then that other person. That doesn’t make anyone’s personal sound better or worse, just different! And that’s okay because people will come to you for your sound and them for theirs.  

Also, you can create a general plan and goals, but you should never ride on them, or put all of your hope in them. If you do it can lead to you feeling some very negative things when they don’t work out like you want them to. But, as long as you stay consistent with the art and keep making friends in the industry, some things will work out, just not stuff that you would expect. So focus on growing the art, and take the things that come your way, when they come your way. Sometimes things won’t work out like you hoped and that’s okay, it just means you aren’t ready for that thing yet. 

3. How did the collaborative process work with Ankou? How were you both connected/introduced to each other? What was your favorite moment in the process of working on the track together?

One day I decided to DM Ankou cause I was a big fan of his music and wanted to show him some appreciation for it. We got to talking, then eventually got to talking about working on a project together. He sent me a WIP (work in progress) that he was stuck on, I had immediate inspiration the minute I heard it, and the rest is history.

Sum R&R has been on the forefront of the underground bass scene for over 5 years now, curating releases, shows and making an overall incredible space for bass music. As we venture through the different soundscapes that are present on their 5 Year Anniversary Compilation, we are proud to present to you today’s premiere, “Piff”, an absolute stomper of a bass track brought to you by none other than the don, The WIddler. Combining reggae with new school bass sounds, this tune is a banger from start to finish providing the perfect mid-tempo twist on The Widdler’s classic tunes. THis track will definitely have you bopping and vibing from start to finish, so don’t sleep on checking this out. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling “Piff” and the rest of the Sum R&R 5 Year Anniversary Compilation, a certified bop.

1. What has been a personal career struggle that you have battled with the most and how has it helped mold your character for the better good presently?

One of the career struggles I have had is the stress of travel and not knowing what to expect from each city in terms of promoters and shows. I have turned this into motivation to be more assertive and heard when it comes to my needs. For the record, Sum RNR has always been top quality from the moment I land to the moment I take off!

2. What has been your favorite memory this far having been part of the EDM scene prior to successfully launching off as a reputable bass artist?

There are so many. From getting to meet and perform with artists that I have looked up to since I was finishing high-school, all the way to being able to play red rocks. No one thing trumps the other and I am lucky for every one of them.

Breaking out and making a name for yourself in the electronic scene can be a difficult task among the masses of new and upcoming artists. This, however, is not the case for two insane bass producers, Devious and TRON3X, who have come out absolutely swinging with their new track, “Space Sauce”. Providing the perfect balance of weird wonky bass and space themed soundscapes, this track transports listeners into another galaxy. Its distorted bass lines combined with its uptempo, high energy sound will have you wanting to have this one on repeat for the foreseeable future. Let’s take a deeper dive into why we are calling this heater, “Space Sauce”, a certified bop.