While upstarts Zombie Cats have been offering stripped down, jaw-grinding, metal-inspired neurofunk and hard D&B for labels like Eatbrain, Blackout and C4C, former BCUK member and still legendary Vegas has been holding down Bad Taste, his new hard D&B imprint. It seems, however, that while discovering talent like Zombie Cats and A&R may a large part of his job now, Vegas isn’t going to stay completely away from the studio. Thank God for that.
While his releases seem to be few and far between (the last track under the Vegas moniker was in September 2018 with Billian), it’s easy to see why Vegas wanted to partner with Zombie Cats. From their Zombots EP on Bad Taste in 2015, it’s clear that Zombie Cats take a lot of influence from BCUK and that their style would appeal to Vegas for a collab. With rolling beats and grinding synths clearly being a passion of both artists, it would honestly be surprising if they didn’t work together at some point. That said, nothing could fully prepare the D&B world for “Void.”
“Resist nothing as there is no more fear. Open up and fall inside yourself. You’ll have no recollection of what happens after that…” it seems Vegas and Zombie Cats built “Void” on the concept behind its main vocal sample as the track is trippy, fast and sort of esoteric in its synths and sound design. That doesn’t mean, however, it’s lacking the heavy beats and metallic overlayed synth ornamentation D&B audiences have come to expect from both artists. In “Void,” those elements are ratcheted up to the Nth power and provide so much extra beat structure and syncopation that it almost sounds like two tracks happening at once, in the best possible way.
There’s so much going on in “Void” where classic neurofunk and techstep blends with modern styles in a way that only Zombie Cats and Vegas could do and that hasn’t been done before. It’s a turnkey, a code for bridging that gap which hard D&B producers have been trying to crack since at least 2015, so the import of this track is much more than it seems. Take note, producers: this is how we go forward in neurofunk.
“Void” released today, April 16 and is available to purchase on Beatport.