Tape B is having the kind of run where you stop being surprised and start being suspicious. “Underneath Your Skin” pairs his heavy, gummy bass design with Dani King’s vocal, and the contrast is the whole reason it lands: her voice stays soft and close while the low end underneath is doing something genuinely rude. Most bass producers who bring in a singer treat her like a garnish sitting on top of the drop. Here the vocal is load-bearing, the thing the bass is answering to. When the second half opens up, the sub doesn’t just get louder, it gets wider, like the room grew walls you didn’t know were there. I’ve had this on repeat since Thursday and the part that keeps getting me is the little half-second of silence right before the weight comes back. Tape B has spent the last couple of years turning into one of the most reliable names in American bass music, and tracks like this are why. Play it on something with an actual sub and the whole thing rearranges your chest.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.