Who is Pirapus and why does this go so hard? Genuine question, because I went looking and came back with almost nothing, while “RENEGADE (Every Day)” is out here sounding like a jump-up set closer. This is the rowdier end of drum and bass: big cartoonish bass wobbles, a vocal chant looped until it lodges, zero interest in behaving. The “every day” hook is the kind of dumb-brilliant earworm jump-up lives on, ridiculous when you describe it and lethal in a sweaty room. The bass patch on the drop is pure elastic, snapping between two notes like it’s trying to escape the mix. It rolls at that breakneck jump-up tempo where the drums never let you catch your breath, and the whole thing is done before you’ve decided whether it’s brilliant or ridiculous. The answer is both, obviously. I caught myself muttering the hook in a corner shop this afternoon and only clocked it halfway through. It’s built to turn a room feral, and on that count it does not miss.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.