It’s been just over a year since Tobax’s groundbreaking Seized Moment EP on Eatbrain made him a household name in both neurofunk and hard drum & bass. Since then he’s done tracks for loads of labels including Bad Taste, Mainframe, Play Me and Kill Tomorrow but it seems only logical that his follow-up multitrack Frenemies should come home once again to Eatbrain.
Fans should expect nothing less than classic neurofunk vibes on Frenemies but each track contains more than one interesting twist. The title track, for example, contains some jaw-dropping tempo changeups. Tobax has also included an instrumental version of the title track (the original contains vocals by Kryptomedic) for mixing purposes. “Twelve Inches” has two separate basslines and a really interesting play on the amen break during the break so it’s also got an interesting little twist.
The EP’s opener “Ghost Town,” while still being a solid dancefloor neuro track, has a sort of gothic feeling added to it by way of the vocals in the break. With a sort of eerie, ambient background supporting, the operatic female vox forces a real, significant pause in the neuro action before the grinding neuro synths come back it’s sort of Cyberpunk-meets-The Fifth Element and despite being such a small part of “Ghost Town,” this interlude really makes the track.
Tobax’s clean production and heavy bass sounds are on full display as always on Frenemies but he’s definitely added some new and different bits to each track so it will be interesting to see where he takes his now characteristic style next. It looks like experimenting is in the cards for Tobax, and fans are put on notice with this EP.
Frenemies releases this Friday on Eatbrain. Fans can pre-order on Beatport here.