While all the throwback to darkstep, techstep and vintage neurofunk has been fun lately, drum & bass should and fairly must charge forward with new styles, especially when it comes to the harder-edged stuff. This is where artists like Screamarts come in. Even with a good technical squint, it’s pretty hard to hear anything borrowed in his recent singles on Delta9, Impact Music or Forest Biz. Similarly, his flagship EP Titans on Bad Taste sounded completely different than anything that’s come out before or since.
It’s only been a few months since Titans and Screamarts has been releasing singles left and right and now he’s back to Bad Taste with his newest singles, “Rise” and “Empath.” With both tracks out tomorrow, Bassrush managed to snag the streaming premiere of “Rise.” These tracks, like Screamarts’s former work, somehow combine a heavy ambient vibe with neurofunk synths and, yes, even the odd foghorn. It seems like a combination that would be impossible but that’s what makes it so interesting.
It’s not to say that there’s no elements of D&B past in “Rise” but it’s blended so well that, save for the beat, it seems truly unrecognizable. In some of his other tracks, fans can tag an amen or a snare sample that sounds familiar but with “Rise” it really sounds all new. In fact, if anything, “Rise” sounds more like a soundsystem track with an emotive backing melody and the way it plays with the heavy, ambient bass that might actually have a binaural effect built in.
“Rise” definitely is drum & bass, so fans shouldn’t mistake it as something else. It’s technically a jump up track from a beat perspective and its sinewave synths flirt with foghorn but composition is the key here. Has Screamarts created a new style within D&B? Only time will tell but with how different his work reads and feels, there’s definitely potential there for him to be on the leading edge, along with a few other artists, to where hard drum & bass will go next.
“Rise” drops tomorrow, March 10 on Bad Taste Recordings along with the b-side “Empath.” Check out the Bad Taste website for stream and purchase links.