2015 is turning into another important year for underground electronic music in Mexico City. The seed of modern bass that was planted in this concrete jungle over 10 years ago is now in full bloom, and it’s something that can be seen in the wide array of bass-heavy electronic netlabels and collectives that have sprung up. Among these, the guys over at Cuatro Veinte have carved out their own lane by bringing bass center stage as the main and almost sole ingredient in the music. In their selection, you can hear a strong appeal to the classic British bass, namely dubstep, jungle, garage, or grime. Their journey as party producers over the last 2 years has put them on local bills with personalities from the UK & US Bass scenes, and now they’re dropping their first compilation, Lissajous Uno.
The work that features a roster of Mexican producers – some familiar, others new names that Cuatro Veinte is pushing as part of their new approach – and its tracks elaborate on different flavors of a common element found in bass. A good portion of the artists selected are rooted in dub and reggae, which seems to be a favorite of this crew. An outstanding track that goes down this route is Wet n’ Groove’s “Her Majesty,” featuring moody melodies and Rastafari vocals over a four to floor beat running at 140 BPM – a pretty rare for thing for a Mexican dubstep production (taking into account Mexican dubstep production in itself is pretty rare).
Another stand out track is Mexico City duo TRAPLORDS’ “Apreta.” The guys took a dembow classic, Plan B’s originally titled “Apreta la disco,” and worked it into a soulful trap edit. The shuffling perc kit really gives momentum to their twist of the song and sets a slightly different mood than the other tracks, a bit less cryptic and more luscious.
Other more abstract ideas are also present, and these are often the most interesting due to way they work a fluid dynamic with heavy bass sounds. In this section of the compilation we see artists like Siete Catorce and Nesstrak; they are among the few producers in Mexico truly influenced by the broken beats of UK Garage, and they’ve harnessed this style into a thing of its own best described as eerie but danceable. Red Bro and No Light, two producers who’ve been making waves since last year, also brought some things to Cuatro Veinte’s table that are worth noting due to their Miami bass and juke influenced sound. While Red Bro’s “ZBRU” takes us on a Miamigaze, ethereal, pad-heavy trip, No Light’s “Frameworks” is a very technical and complex experience laden with dub techno stabs and racing jungle samples that really show how far bass music has come in Mexico.
Cuatro Veinte have made it clear that they’re not in the game of publishing a lot of music frequently– they’d rather keep pushing for more shows in Mexico City to spread the message of bass on the dance floor. Still, this compilation is a real delight for anyone trying to stay in the loop on up and coming electronic music. It’s an honor for us to launch Lissajous Uno. Get it totally free through Cuatro Veinte and expect the next bass-heavy musical compilation at the end of this year.