For Club Use Only is your one-stop guide to the best underground dance music from across the world. Each month, The Astral Plane’s Gabe Meier forecasts the next wave of sounds due to break through into the mainstream.
With the world descending into heatwave-induced madness, outsized bangers were the flavor of the month in July with Amnesia Scanner, Kamixlo, Quay Dash & Sega Bodega and Xzavier Stone providing plenty of bombast.
On the mix front, Finn let loose another episode of his excellent B2B series, this time with fellow Manc Anz, Hitmakerchinx turned in an airhorn-heavy selection for JEROME and DJ Lag burned his way through two hours for Rinse FM. Meanwhile, SD Laika emerged from several years of silence with the smash-and-grab ‘Latent Fish’ and Houston’s MAJIA came through with a kaleidoscopic compilation featuring the likes of Ariel Zetina, DEBIT, M.E.S.H. and v1984.
https://soundcloud.com/londonxjade/beat-this-prod-eriqua
London Jade
‘Beat This’ (Prod. Eriqua)
London Jade announces the end of her rap career in style on the Eriqua-produced ‘Beat This’, channeling Ciara and getting us excited for what’s next from the Oakland-based artist.
Siete Catorce & AMAZONDOTCOM
‘Opposite Moon’
AMAZONDOTCOM and Siete Catorce are both forces to be reckoned with on their own and have brought the best out of each other on their excellent Teardropz EP for Galtier’s label Nostro Hood System. Featuring a start-stop composition and agitated drum programming, ‘Opposite Moon’ is a highlight of the release, devilishly cuing in and toying with the listener’s pleasure and anxiety centers.
Swan Meat
‘Lisp’
Swan Meat is as adept as anyone at imbuing her work with a spectral quality and her latest epic, ‘Lisp’, adds punchy kicks and near-grime synths in a nod to a dancefloor that doesn’t quite exist. The track follows Swan Meat’s April-released, Lathe of Heaven, an EP inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Hyph11E
‘Enter Nowhere’
Febrile drum arrangements punctuate bouts of silence to start Hyph11E’s entry into the Country Music catalogue — the label asks for an eight minute run time and 200 beats per minutes for the uninitiated. It’s all searing metallic noise from there. This one makes Dominic Fernow’s club attempts look pale in comparison.
BADSISTA
‘NA ONDA DA BABYLON’
Currently in the midst of a European tour, São Paulo’s BADSISTA offered up ‘NA ONDA DA BABYLON’, showing off her distinctly sparse take on baile funk. She also dropped by the NTS studio in London for 45 minutes of percussion-heavy madness.
Jill Scott
‘It’s Love (C.Muxic Club Edit)’
CalvoMuxic has emerged as one of the brightest voices in club music and the Baltimore producer’s latest, ostensibly an edit of Jill Scott’s ‘It’s Love’, is a masterwork of dancefloor-focused collage. Drawing on everything from Outkast to Wiley, the track pings between juke energy and familiar Bmore patterns, starting and stopping with reckless abandon and adding a dose of clave for good measure.
Imaabs
‘Impasse’ Feat. Wasted Fates
Imaabs and Waste Fates draw movement out of stasis on ‘Impasse’, assembling blocks of snappy percussion over a sparkling drone foundation. The track’s sneakily earworm worthy synth lines makes this one a potential late night stunner.
Da Soul Boyz
‘Welcome to Durban’
Comprised of Ndu Desoul M, Xoh da Deejay and Dj Ndoski, Da Soul Boyz are the latest act to join the Nervous Horizon fold, fitting in nicely with the London label’s militantly rhythmic ethos. ‘Welcome to Durban’ is punctuated by echo-heavy crashes that lend the effort a disorienting lilt, a nimble taste of their new EP of the same name.
MC Rafa Original
‘Medley Das Favelas (DJ R7) Lançamento 2018’
DJ R7 has a knack for eliciting suspense from bare bones baile funk arrangements and the São Paulo-based producer’s latest is a masterclass. Utilizing strung out drum hits and a choir patch, MC Rafa Original is offered the space to gruffly make his presence known.
https://soundcloud.com/clemencydj/nova-geracao-hitch
Clemency
‘nova geração hitch’
Former child prodigy funkeiro Jonathan da Nova’s ‘Nova Geração’ is unearthed here by Mutalism’s Clemency and matched with Ansom’s techno pulser ‘Halyard Hitch’ in what has to be the most out-of-the-blue blend of the month.
Gabe Meier runs The Astral Plane. Find him on Twitter.
Read next: Deep Inside: August 2018’s must-hear house and techno playlist
