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

Deadboy 'Columns' (Ten Thousand Yen)

Deadboy, aka Montreal-via-London producer Allen Wooten, has always been drawn to shiny motifs. Whether he’s working through luscious, large-scale pieces or within the constraints of tighter rhythms, all of his tunes successfully manage to incubate a bright, soaring mood and stretch it over the duration of the song. His most recent productions, both individually and with fellow London producer Murlo as DBM, have been particularly bouncy and upbeat, replete with wubs and fast-paced takes on UK bass music. This new EP finds Deadboy setting his cheerful melodies against light-hearted house breaks: effervescent synth lines weave themselves around staunch bass patterns, making these tracks the ones you want to hear deep in the dance in the early hours of the morning. ‘Glass Lake’ is the track that best shows the scope of Deadboy’s capable crossovers: with fizzy snares, bongo runs and sleek, coursing melodies, it’s clear that he’s able to translate a universal sentiment into various genres.

8/10