Your EDM Premiere: AL/SO Advises Cautious Followers to Take a Good, Scorching ‘Toaster Bathtub’ [Korsakov Music]
When the legendary Korsakov occasions firm introduced their intent to spawn a label in 2018, nobody was certain if this is able to merely be one other promoter aspect venture to achieve exclusivity on efficiency contracts, or an actual label value its mustard. Due to the hiring of the “Cantankerous” Elmar Van Eijk whose A&R proved invaluable however whose power is akin to that of a Tasmanian satan, we will now safely say Korsakov Music isn’t solely thriving however has change into a family identify in dancefloor drum & bass.
Taking over the irritatingly untaggable artist moniker AL/SO, Van Eijk has had quite a few his personal releases on the Dutch imprint, so now he’s additionally recognized for his personal model of high-quality dancefloor tunes, one of the high-energy and infectious reside DJ exhibits on the market and a sick humorousness in terms of launch titles. With earlier titles just like the now dancefloor normal “Get together Each Day” with High Maintenance and “Booger Sugar” and “Dutch Braveness” as Ancient Radius, his venture with AKOV and Multiplex, it could solely stand to motive that AL/SO’s debut solo album, Toaster Bathtub due out this Friday, August 20, could be stamped with that horrifying irony as effectively.
With a number of collabs below his belt, AL/SO has actually struck out on Toaster Bathtub, with the one collab observe being “Earthquake” with Holdem and vocals and guitars on “Brace Your self” offered by Gid Sedgwick and Tom Vernon, respectively. As soon as previous the preliminary shock of the title and tongue-in-cheek cowl picture, followers will discover a technically clear, well-constructed and, after all, extremely danceable EP laced with neuro-style sub bass and punishing synths. The large shock on the EP comes from the afore-mentioned “Brace Your self,” which reveals AL/SO’s love of basic metallic as he mixes Vernon’s Laiho-level guitar prowess, Sedgwick’s modernized Iron Maiden screamo vox and a punishing dancefloor beat. Van Eijk took a giant danger on this observe but when reside reactions are something to by, it’s paid off in spades.
Our premiere at this time and the final observe to be teased earlier than Toaster Bathtub drops is, appropriately, the title observe. Stuffed with his trademark humor within the type of electrocution and water samples, the layered synths on “Toaster Bathtub” are additionally closely charged whereas the uber-fast beat drives the observe alongside. It’s a beautiful dancefloor-neuro crossover vibe on this observe, and that’s a technique it will get away with all of the suicide references. The opposite is, effectively, it’s AL/SO. Followers would count on nothing lower than a stunning (pardon the pun) nod to dying and electrocution in the midst of a plague. That however, nonetheless, it’s a particularly strong, enjoyable observe and punters can wager it will likely be broadly performed on huge rigs the world over come fall. It’s a wonderful Halloween observe.
Toaster Bathtub is certain to boost some eyebrows with its title and contents, if not absolutely offend the extra delicate constitutions of of this making an attempt time, however fortunately drum & bass is constructed for this form of humor. We additionally should do not forget that a few of the greatest but most macabre artwork and humor has come out of scary occasions and society was virtually all the time higher for it: guillotine fashion during the French Revolution, for instance, or the phantasmagoria, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, Dracula and extra that got here out of the smallpox-and-cholera-riddled early 1800s. Even the youngsters’s nursery rhyme “Ring a Ring of Roses (Ring Around the Rosey)” is about plague sores and dying. Toaster Bathtub could be the cheeky smirk we want whereas skanking on the dancefloor as raves come again full-time, and if nothing else, it’s one hell of a top quality EP.
Toaster Bathtub releases on Korsakov Music on Friday, August 20. Click here to pre-order or pre-save.