racemymind

The Sun Comes Up TremendousDisclosure2.5 out of 5 stars · 22d ago

Island, 2026. I went for the kick first and there is almost nothing left on it. The transient has been shaved down so the bottom end still reads warm through a festival PA, and once you clock that, the whole record is the strings doing work the drums were not allowed to do. Three minutes of build for a drop that lands soft. Howard singing lead for the first time since Alchemy could have been the excuse to make something small and rude. Instead they booked the sunset slot and scored it. A kick made polite on purpose is the one thing I have no time for.

SWEATKISS OF LIFE3.5 out of 5 stars · Aug 15

S2 put this out at the start of August. The pattern is Afro-house, and the Latin percussion sitting on top of it is the only layer with any real grip, because underneath that it's one bass idea repeating for three minutes without ever changing its mind. The synth stabs on the chorus are doing more work than stabs should have to do. Fine as a summer record. Sticky had the better hook and I'd guess they know that.

Level 5King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard4.0 out of 5 stars · Aug 9

Six people crowded around one Eurorack rig and this is what fell out, which explains most of it. The breakbeat is straight 1992 hardcore-jungle worship with a vocoder sat on top, and yes, everyone reaching for the Prodigy comparison is right. My issue is the kick. It's mixed like a guitar band's idea of a kick, all midrange, no floor underneath, so the pattern moves but never actually lands the way a Nitzer Ebb record lands on you. The vocoder ends up carrying the whole self-driving-car conceit by itself. Still, a band with no business making this made it, and I'd rather have this than another

the bridgeKelela4.0 out of 5 stars · Aug 1

Warp, 2026, Kelela co-producing with Oscar Scheller. What I keep going back to is the rhythm track: a shuffle that edges toward a proper garage pattern and then never lands on one, kick mixed so far under the vocals it barely registers as a pulse. I came up on records where the kick is the whole argument, so call that my problem and not the record's. Four minutes of two voices this soft over a beat this quiet should sag somewhere and it doesn't, mostly down to how the last stretch actually arranges the two lines against each other. Low end still leaves me wanting.

One More TryGeorge Michael4.0 out of 5 stars · Jul 16

1988, and it's basically a drum machine, a slow bass pulse and that gospel organ carrying the whole thing. Michael leaves most of the track empty on purpose and the restraint is the point. Coming at it from the electronic-body end of things, it's the programming that holds me: the beat barely moves, no fills, just that mechanical pulse sitting under a voice doing all the lifting. He doesn't soften anything to make it play wider, and i respect that. Sags a little in the last stretch, but the bones are honest.

Black Prada Dresssong · I Know Too Much · Ellie Goulding2.5 out of 5 stars · Jul 3

Polydor pushed this out in June 2026 as the lead for I Know Too Much, and Jack Rochon (the TikTok discovery she bumped up to exec producer) builds it on a four-on-the-floor that's more club-adjacent than actual club. Programming's clean, the hats carry most of the motion, but the kick sits too far back in the mix for my taste. That's the gripe. A song about the voice in your head telling you you're not enough should have some weight under it, and instead it kind of floats. The vocal saves it though. All air and reverb, and there's a real sadness in the pre-chorus that a dance record usually sa