CRATE Pulls of the Week

Every Friday we update CRATE with the records that hit a little harder than everything living on Condensed. Bass music, UK garage, breaks, electro, festival weapons, late-night discoveries... if it rattles the speakers, it probably ended up here. Here are this week's favorite additions.

Felix Jaehn, Jaguar, FAANGS – “why you mad”

Felix Jaehn, Jaguar and FAANGS have given us one minute and 38 seconds to determine why we’re mad. Not nearly enough time for a full psychological evaluation, but plenty for a working diagnosis. Felix has made genre-fluidity part of the job description, but at this point, coloring inside the lines would be the more radical choice. Jaguar knows her way around a UK club, FAANGS gets the keys to antagonize whoever needs antagonizing, and “why you mad” pulls breaks and dance-pop into the same appointment. Short visit. We’ll be back.

Chrystal, Rudimental – “3 2 1”

There are worse things that can happen after someone remixes your song than eventually making another one together. Rudimental were part of the second life of Chrystal’s “The Days,” and now everybody has reconvened for “3 2 1.” Consider the title a countdown to some top-shelf liquid drum & bass. There’s a lot of dance music out there assembled from perfectly respectable parts that somehow adds up to absolutely nothing. This is the opposite. Enough melancholy in Chrystal’s vocal to give it consequence, enough Rudimental propulsion to keep us moving, and a chorus generous enough to send us right back to the beginning.

Vluarr – “Walk The Walk”

“Walk the walk” is a dangerous thing to name a record. You’ve eliminated the possibility of quietly hoping nobody notices if you can’t deliver. Vluarr seems comfortable with the terms. The vocal makes its brief appearance and leaves the rest to body language. What follows is a bass house strut with enough confidence to alter your gait. Give it thirty seconds and whatever you were doing has become an entrance. Shoulders back. Chin up. Walk the walk.

Viperactive – “Snakepit Anthem”

You don't call something “Snakepit Anthem” and expect us to approach calmly. Viperactive has been building SNAKEPIT as a live concept since at least last year, and now the name has swallowed an entire nine-track EP and acquired its own anthem. The drops don't so much arrive as strike, carrying the venom and antidote in the same bite. The dosage is aggressive, the side effects are immediate, and abstinence is probably the only responsible recommendation. Naturally, we'll have another.

H.LLS, Claudia Valentina – “GODIN”

H.LLS are kicking off a new release every two weeks through December with “GODIN,” featuring Claudia Valentina, and that’s about where the straightforward information ends. Their website also says DIEGO GODIN, as in the Uruguayan footballer, and I have questions. Is that the reference? Why? What are we doing here? Sometimes I wish new music came with slightly better instructions for those of us nosy enough to start pulling at every loose thread. Then again, here we are. Interest piqued. Speakers peaked. “GODIN” isn't the record I’d use to keep a dancefloor pinned at full throttle. It’s the one I’d slip between two of those records, let the room exhale into its electro-rap murk for a minute, then drop everyone back in.

Kim Ximya – “T-H-I-R-S-T-Y”

And now for the miscellaneous drawer. “T-H-I-R-S-T-Y” wandered into CRATE without much explanation, which sent me looking for one and accidentally uncovered an entire art project. South Korean rapper and producer Kim Ximya’s new album Dogma exists as a streaming release, a film with alternate versions, and a physical meditation device with its own built-in speaker. We went looking for a song and found an installation. Does that explain how it ended up here? Not really. Good. Stay thirsty.