January: 7 bass & club music releases you need to hear this month

Michelangel0 'Big Impressions' (TAR)

TAR, the LA label run by Paul Preston (aka PBDY of Brainfeeder fame), is currently proving itself to be a launchpad for cutting-edge producers using sound and noise in outlandish ways, such as British wunderkind Kai Whiston and Japanese producer RYKT. It’s a good fit, then, for the debut EP from this Boston-based neo-classical producer. The five-track record glitters loudly from start to finish with sincere, unparalleled energy, each song carving out a physical space for itself with large swathes of blown-out maximalism. There are tightly compositional takes on jungle and d’n’b rhythms (‘La Lumiere’ and ‘La Nuit / Drm Solo Plz / I Am Not Afraid Of The Dark’), and more meditative, overtly classical reflections too; ‘Sex’ is an existential r’n’b anthem, while ‘Autumn Falls…’ evokes images of sunlit rafters in an old church. A masterclass in grandiose rhapsody.

9/10