CAN’T STOP is a dare of a title, and the track spends three minutes proving it can take the hit. It’s dubstep built for maximum physical impact, the kind where the drop doesn’t ask permission. Once the first drop lands at 0:58 there’s genuinely no coasting section. It just keeps escalating. What separates MACHAKI from the wall of Monstercat bass producers is a sense of groove underneath the aggression, so even at its heaviest the track swings instead of just stomping. The sound design on the second drop has this vocal-formant thing where the bass almost talks, a trick that’s easy to overdo and here it’s rationed exactly right. It isn’t deep or clever and doesn’t want to be. It’s a weapon for a specific job and it does that job with a grin. I put it on to test a new pair of headphones and immediately worried for my eardrums and not for the track. MACHAKI has been one of Monstercat’s better-kept secrets, and this is the one that should blow that cover. Relentless in the best possible way.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.