The deep underground label VALE adds to their ongoing stream of far-out, bass-heavy singles today with two raw tunes from two relatively unknown and international producers, voljum and Devisored. The label is gaining recognition for its curation of dark, high-brow experimental bass music. This go-round, they may have outdone themselves.
“monotony” from voljum is just reckless. The complexity here leaves one at a loss for words. It’s like a gauntlet of pro-level snips from the sound design spectrum, from fuzzy to smooth, colorful to sharp, metallic, aqueous and unheard. The crystal clear string bass and flute arrangement in the bridge creates a catchy melody, feigning accessibility. The arrangement - intro, drop, bridge, drop (reprise) - is standard, but the content is absolutely bonkers. “monotony” (the irony of the title reveals itself after a few listens) is clearly composed with the power and precision of a well-schooled musician and the abandon of a mad scientist.
Sparked primarily by the “ghost production” credentials listed on the voljum’s SoundCloud, ongoing discussions have speculated on the producer’s true identity. He offers a comprehensive intake form for ghost production requests, where customers can submit a track in styles ranging from Complextro, Future Garage, and Moombhacore to the usual Dubstep, Drumstep, etc. Customers can obtain the music in any format from an .mp3 to an Ableton 10 project file ( for an additional 95 euros). There may be something to this speculation. Or, voljum could simply be the 18-year-old classical pianist composing electronic music in his spare time, as his SoundCloud suggests. Is voljum the Lebron James of neuro? Either way, obviously stay chooned.
For all this, the second producer on the docket, Devisored (pronounced 'Dev-eye-zerD'), may be even more enigmatic. Hailing from India and with far fewer followers than voljum, Devisored has just two tracks available to the public. “Vulcan”, his third, runs for almost five and a half minutes. Although it’s climactic and possesses some extreme and challenging sound design, it’s more drawn out and emotionally dynamic than the cut from voljum, with development and separate movements. In this way it’s both a counterbalance and a perfect match with “monotony”.
Here’s a tip of the cap to VALE for pairing singles from such unknown artists and popping them off. Here’s another to the artist that plays out “monotony” in one of his or her next sets.
FOLLOW voljum: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Spotify
FOLLOW Devisored: Soundcloud