It's Monday, which means new BBB time - enjoy! 🗞️✨
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NEWS
Space Laces' Vaultage 004 drops
It's here, and it's beautiful. Last Thursday, Ian Slider, aka Space Laces, dropped the long-awaited fourth instalment of his Vaultage mix series for elated Bass music fans across the world. The mix comes in at a whopping 33mins in length and showcases 32 new 'demos and rarities unleashed from a vault', a significant mark-up on the previous three mini-mixes. The excellence of the project was reflected in the sheer amount of producers that took to social media to comment on how amazing they found it - something arguably unseen in Bass music beyond Skrillex - as shown below.
As many of you will know, my First Listen coverage of Vaultage 004 is up on the YouTube channel now, which I will link below. Having listened to it a fair few times more since, I have more extensive thoughts, which I thought about sharing here, but remembered I'm planning to give those on YouTube either Tuesday or Wednesday in a new kind of review video for the channel called 'Honest Reviews'. In these videos, I will fulfil the promise of that video title by being as honest as I can in my coverage of said project having heard it 4/5 times more beyond the first listen. Vaultage 004 will receive the first coverage of this kind. In that video, I'll be detailing what I make of the mix more generally, my favourite tracks from the 32, where this might leave Space Laces going forward and more. But keep this information to yourselves, you're the only ones that know about it!
My Vaultage 004 First Listen coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgy26u7LXQg&t=2211s
What are you guys make of Vaultage 004? How many times have you heard it through already? Which drop(s) of the 30-odd is your favourite? Leave all your thoughts in the comments!
Skism's X bio
Well then, when did this happen? That's a genuine question, because either Skism changed his X bio to 'Never Say Never' ages ago - prior to his recent comeback to social media - so it doesn't really mean anything. It could even be a joke. Or this is actually quite significant, and another clue towards his legendary Never Say Die label being brought back from the dead almost four years since its closure. This bio was picked up by The Dub Rebellion who shared the screenshot to X, only to then delete the post not long after sharing it. Was this because he realised it was an old bio, and so nothing to get excited about, or did someone from NSD tell him to take it down so as to not build anticipation unnecessarily? I messaged Darek (The Dub Rebellion) about it, but he is yet to respond.
Say there is some significance to this, and it is a recent bio change by Skism from 'Never Say Die' to 'Never Say Never' (i.e. regarding the label making a return), is this Skism trying to do it as subtly as possible? I think you'd wanna slowly build anticipation like that, and have it be as gradual as possible so as to get Dubstep fans more and more excited over a longer period of time - for people to find clues and connect the dots, rather than just hand it to them out of nowhere through trailers. It would be quite clever if so, but then once again it could have no real meaning to it at all. I'm gutted that I can't remember for sure whether it did, in fact, say 'Never Say Die' previously. If it did, then we may have something rather exciting on our hands ...
My Spotify Wrapped, for your eyes only
It's Wrapped 2025 time! I didn't wanna share my Spotify Wrapped publicly this year, simply because I don't align with a lot of the company's practices, things they fund, their owner Daniel Ek generally and more. I'm currently trying to figure out the most effective way of transferring everything I have on Spotify over to another music streaming app. That being said, I did of course get my own Wrapped from the app, and it's very interesting to see what some of the results are, which I thought I'd share with you guys in this bulletin. It's important to note that Spotify is far from the only service I use for listening to music, but it's clear once again through this that my use of it is almost entirely exclusive to work-related listening, as my top genres show for example. I also had significant amounts of time away from using Spotify this year, so the results are likely a little more skewed in comparison with previous years of using the app.
Given that I listen almost exclusively to electronic music on the app, are there really 432 different genres that I've gone through over the last 12 months? Did I really listen to Muadeep more than splitter? Does EDM accurately represent the music that I find and check out on Spotify? As ever, there are so many unanswered questions with a Wrapped, but I'm hoping that sharing these was a good mini-insight into some of my listening habits on that app in 2025.
(P.S. my 'Listening Age' was 17 for some reason, but let's gloss over that 😂)
MUSIC
Trolley Snatcha and Skism's Instagram interaction
Following on from the above discussion about Skism's potential X bio change, there was another exchange on social media last week to stoke the fires surrounding a potential return for Skism's Never Say Die label. Skism shared a reel to Instagram with footage from a 2011 show, and included snippets from his classic 2010 track 'Rave Review'. In the comments of this post, Skism had a brief interaction with none other than DJ / producer Trolley Snatcha, one of modern Dubstep's most enigmatic artists and an undeniable fan-favourite within the community. The convo ended with Mr. Snatcha saying 'shout ya soon, got something for ya' - what could that mean?
I know we can easily get into a space of romanticising things, but surely comments like this have to mean something? The fact that he's said this publicly, as opposed to in the DMs where only Skism can see it, suggests wanting fans of his and Skism's to see it. But would it simply be the fact he's releasing anything at all, or is it for a potential Never Say Die return? Trolley Snatcha didn't ever become one of the imprints' stalwarts per se, a la Zomboy or Eptic, but did feature on the label many times. Again, it's all speculation right now, but it is fascinating to see little bits of information piece together towards one general thing. As ever, let's wait and see!
Peekaboo's sophomore album to drop in January
Last week, I wrote about Peekaboo sharing an alluring new trailer that seemed to tease towards a new track with vocalist Flowdan. That was proven true, as he dropped his latest track '6 Million' alongside not just Flowdan, but Skrillex again for their first linkup since August 2023's 'Badders', which also featured G-REX on production duty.
But that wasn't the only big news coming from Peekaboo, as he also revealed this track is to be the third single from his upcoming second / sophomore album which will drop on January 23rd next year, titled Are We Dreaming? As of yet, there is no further information on the LP, but I imagine we will know a lot more quite soon given that the release date is only a few weeks away.
'6 Million' teaser lyric video: https://x.com/peekaboobeats/status/1995558336423755858?s=46&t=TEbbHyZ3OlICtgts4_3J0g
A new Peekaboo album will be a great way to kick off Bass releases for 2026. Are you looking forward to it dropping in full?
Vorso's Fizzbuzz samples
Attention producers! One of the most renowned producers in Bass music today, Vorso, has released a new 240-sample pack following the drop of his new EP Fizzbuzz, all of which were 'created using sounds from the EP, including unheard material and audio explorations' in his own words. It's always very exciting when an artist of this calibre shares something like this, as it provides further insight into their process, and goes layers beneath what we hear with the finalised music, so I definitely recommend considering purchasing this pack if you're in the music-making business, and are a fan of Vorso's material.
Pack link: https://x.com/vorsomusic/status/1995552672619884946?s=46&t=TEbbHyZ3OlICtgts4_3J0g
It also provides good as a way of supporting a musician who operates at the very top of the production game within the Bass scene, and is fully deserving of all the help he can get to keep him doing his thing. Check it out!
DISCUSSION
Is Space Laces the best in the Bass scene?
It's the biggest discussion point of last week, no doubt! I feel like this happens after every Vaultage mix, where people listen through it and go 'Is there really anyone better than him out there?' and quite right really. It shouldn't take that reminder, because importantly I also think Space Laces' music stands the test of time - or has a distinctly timeless feel - more than basically any other producer in Bass music. He was making tunes not far off this production standard well over ten years ago - at least the sound design was extremely comparable in quality. So we shouldn't need that reminder of how good he is because of how high the standard is across his discography, but it'll always be a good discussion to have amongst those who like talking about Bass music.
Dubstepper ZETTA has called it 'a fact' (above) that Space Laces is the most 'technically advanced producer in the scene'. Now granted, that doesn't mean the best outright, but if we can take 'technically advanced' to be one's ability to figure out how to best execute a particular idea they have, it can't be too far from conversations about who the best Bass producer is. He's also been signified as a trailblazer in ZETTA's tweet here, which ties into the previous discussion about his longevity as an artist, and how consistent he's been across that 10-year+ period. Would said longevity also count towards him being the best?
Does it work to say that Space Laces is 'objectively the best at bass music,' as DJ / producer Bossfight said (above)? What does 'best' mean in this instance? Can it be objective when music enjoyment is an almost entirely subjective experience? We can objectively say he is a better producer than most people that make electronic music, but can we say his ideas are objectively better than others? That's down to personal enjoyment right? Does the amount he's revered by the general Bass populace show him to be the best, through the reaction to his new releases alone? It isn't just festival goers but the producers also that sing his praises to no end unlike any other artist, as shown in this bulletin.
What are the ways in which he's 'light years ahead of any other producer in the world,' as BLVNKSPVCE said (above)? Is it the Vaultage concept itself that separates him from everyone else, or the way it's put together, or the range of ideas? Maybe the fact that one could easily say yes to all of those things does indeed make him the best there is in Bass music.
I personally struggle to think of another producer in the last decade of Bass music that's consistently released music with that level of diversity in ideas at that production quality; plus with that level of musical prowess and sound selection, tying it together into mini stories with a whirlwind of banger material, reflective material, super heavy stuff, seriously humorous stuff and seemingly everything in between. I do feel like he needs to take that leap and put out a full album at some point to fully round off his project, but solely in his approach to making Bass music, he's basically as 'complete package' as one can get.
What do you think, is Space Laces the best producer Bass music has to offer right now?
FUNNIES // COOL STUFF
Using ChatGPT to make a Dubstep track
This original tweet and first (only) reply combo was simply too good to not share. Big ups to euphee for giving the middle finger to AI in music!
Here's the clip if you wanna hear what ChatGPT suggested @rocktpowrdsound put together: https://x.com/rocktpowrdsound/status/1996252084824576415?s=46&t=TEbbHyZ3OlICtgts4_3J0g
MUST DIE! and Space Laces are related
I mean absolutely, why not? Better and easier than being brothers, at least.
FuntCase x Svdden Death x Ray Volpe
Just a really nice picture, for the people involved in it but also in seeing how they've changed from a time that is (eek) not far from being 10 years ago. Wild.
This can't really, actually be a thing?
A shameful event name playing on the legendary Woodstock festival that last happened in 1969, and was duly ripped into on social media last week.
And why does this look so unerringly like Subsidia artwork? I have to ask.
Some top trolling
Having seen this post and its thread of replies, I'm somewhat perturbed by the fact that many, Sydney here included, can not realise the sarcasm in this.
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Did I miss anything from the last week in Bass music? Let me know below! 😌