It's Monday, and so time for a new BBB! 🗞️✨
ENJOY 💙💙
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NEWS
Diplo clowned online for AI stance
Another week, another big artist in the electronic music scene embarrassing themselves over AI. This time it was Diplo, who doubled down on his thoughts regarding using AI in music after an interview clip of him discussing it started going viral. In the interview, conducted by Behind The Wall podcaster Daniel Wall, Diplo said: "I don't even need the voice anymore ... I can get the best voice from AI." He also said: "there's no fighting AI ... you have to just work your best to be the best at it." He then talked about a producer that he recently signed, who he "made" - no sir, I think you meant generated - some beats with, after which the producer apparently said "I'm done, I'm cooked right?", and Diplo responds "I don't know man, maybe." Somewhat sickeningly, the X account sharing this clip wrote, 'Diplo's take on AI is spot on,' and 'it's inevitable, and you're dumb if you don't use it.'
Interview clip: https://x.com/jameygannon/status/2043788602467913966?s=46&t=TEbbHyZ3OlICtgts4_3J0g
Then, as aforementioned, once the interview clip started being shared around, Diplo embellished those thoughts with a brief written tweet. In the post, he said, 'if you are a creative you need to adapt or just like give up and become an uber driver until everyone has a waymo.' Unsurprisingly, the backlash to these words was quite fierce from many people in the electronic scene. Perhaps most importantly, it was pointed out by some that Diplo's actually invested in a company called Aaru, an AI startup that aims to predict human behaviour better than humans can. Underground producer WATER SPIRIT replied directly to Diplo's tweet, writing: 'Using ai to make ur art shows you don’t care about your audience and the people that invested in you.' Another producer, Shirobon, said, 'Using AI isn't adapting, it's alienating yourself from your audience.' It's absolutely worth reading the replies to his post to have your faith in humanity restored.
The discourse then expanded into general thoughts about Diplo's career and discography in the midst of his AI promotion. Prominent House artist camoufly simply tweeted: 'important rule: if Diplo is saying it dismiss it.' Several people referenced his time with Skrillex as Jack Ü, with one user saying: 'notice how skrillex has evolved his sound over the years without the use of AI. meanwhile diplo still begs for Jack Ü to come back.' Another said: 'Diplo has only ever made hits in collaborative efforts which makes me think that he’s just not a very good producer!' His comments were also brought up alongside several sexual assault allegations that have been made against him in recent years - we now have another thing to strongly dislike him for, essentially.
How does someone go from being so invested in music as an art form - bringing together hundreds of different cultures and influences, and scouring the globe for the most niche samples and sounds - to being so active in the pursuit of squashing real, genuine creativity? I can only imagine he's become so capitalism-pilled that money is all he sees music as now. It's still about expression to Diplo, but it's far more about revenue and how quickly that can be generated. You look through his social media pages too, and it's an extremely odd scrolling experience. AI-generated videos of him DJing to gorillas, fighting a shark, DJing on a wind turbine. It's safe to say, I think, that it isn't just music he's fascinated about in relation to AI. Can't he see that he looks completely ridiculous sharing clips like that? This is the kinda thing that my mid-60s uncle and his mates guffaw about for hours on end, generating the most heinous-looking slop footage on Grok.
To the producers amongst you: I'm reporting on this because I have to, because it's the biggest Bass-related news of last week. But do not take what Diplo's said here seriously in any way. His comments are borderline scandalous - and actually quite dangerous - and I really recommend watching the full interview clip so you can realise that for yourselves. It gets worse as it goes on, and with this Diplo's only proven himself to be one of the scene's most deplorable figures once again.
Black Tiger Sex Machine's AI post
Yes, more AI coverage I'm afraid, yet thankfully from a different perspective. Bass music group Black Tiger Sex Machine took to Instagram just yesterday to post about the need for regulation when it comes to using AI in music-making. They referenced a previous warning surrounding this topic - that 'if no regulations were put in place to protect human artists, people would also stop truly caring who makes the music they listen to.' They then made clear that 'About 40 to 50% of all music distributed per day on streaming platforms is now made with AI', before the most damning part of the post: 'the current #1 song on US and global iTunes is AI generated.' They went on to state that because nothing has been done to prevent AI-generated music from entering the charts, it's about to start happening a lot more off the back of this example. They wrote about the need for laws to ban AI from the arts, or at the very least certifications showing when music has AI use within it. The post was finished with a resounding: 'I know some of you don't care about stuff like this, but it's time to care ... Protect human made art.'
Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXS1geqFlSr/?img_index=2&igsh=cnVwM2dwODBvdDdo
Producers flocked to the post's comments section to respond in their droves, from Svdden Death to Moore Kismet, Of The Trees to GorillaT and more. Whilst the threat of AI use in the music industry is absolutely there, and we don't know right now how bad it can get, it was reassuring to see people unite against it, provide reasons for why it's happening, and give mini-solutions for ways we can combat it as individuals. It was another 'faith in humanity restored' moment, for sure. The general hope for the vast majority in the electronic music scene is that there'll always be enough people championing human endeavour over AI use, meaning that a collective will always be present to fight against that particular force. Go forth with that collective energy, we must!
It's a little worrying though, isn't it, that I'm finding myself writing about AI on the Big Bass Bulletin more and more with each passing week ...
REZZ cancels Coachella Weekend 2 performance
Following the huge success of her Coachella Weekend 1 performance, Bass producer / DJ REZZ unfortunately had to cancel her Weekend 2 show at the Indio, California festival due to what seems like a form of burnout. In her update post, she wrote: 'My body has been whispering for a while that I need a real break', before adding, 'It's gonna be a process for my healing.' I'm not sure who took the slot vacated by her, but many were quick to respond in the replies to said post with messages of support in the midst of what must've been quite a difficult decision for her and her team to make.
I'm happy that these kinda posts exists, because it normalises the need to take time for yourself. If someone as big as REZZ shares a post like this, more artists will feel encouraged to do similar when they're not feeling on top of everything. We all know what happened to Avicii, for example, who essentially burnt himself out beyond repair. We of course all look forward to the return of REZZ and her incredible Portal show when she can!
MUSIC
Another new Getter EP
What a delight to see that Getter is properly back into his Bass music-releasing rhythm. The California-based producer released his 2nd EP of 2026 last week, a part 2 to January's DOOM. This new collection also consists of 5 tracks and dropped on Bassrush Records, but most exciting of all is the collab roster on this particular project, with Space Laces, Svdden Death, Moody Good and Zoey808 all featuring. What a collection of Bass artists that is! I'm very exciting to check it out, and will likely be doing so on Twitch later today, so be sure to tune into that if you can!
Stream the DOOM 2 EP: https://soundcloud.com/getterofficial/sets/doom-2
Another new Moody Good single
To go with his Getter collab dropping last week, Moody Good has graced us with his 3rd solo single release of 2026. This latest cut is titled 'Mouth Piece', and is a collaboration with predominantly-Baile Funk artist KARAN!, dropping yet again on Moody's newly-founded SPEEDBUMP imprint. I will also be checking this out on Twitch later, so tune in if you're around! It should be a fun stream.
Stream 'Mouth Piece': https://soundcloud.com/moodygood/mouth-piece
The first S.Y.N. ID
Following their official launch as S.Y.N. last week, Svdden Death, yvm3 and Nimda have posted an ID clip of their first potential release as a trio. Svdden Death shared the footage, and titled the ID 'ARGGGGG' in the caption, though whether that's serious or not who knows. Having listened to it though, I can safely say - Tear Out lovers, rejoice! This group really could end up usurping Masterhand at this rate.
ID clip: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXM3J8KDUsB/?igsh=MWdxdDRmbWdwZjAyNg==
Biggest Bass releases of the week
To go with the Getter and Moody Good releases from last week, also of note on the big-name front were new collaborations from Hedex & Ray Volpe and Subtronics & INEZ, as well as solo releases from Barely Alive, Kayzo and Habstrakt, whose track I featured in my latest reaction coverage on here. Visages and G Jones & Eprom also dropped A/Bs, whilst Mythm and underground Dubstep legend Ponicz dropped EPs of their own. There wasn't much to mention on the longer projects front, unless the Boys Noize & Nine Inch Nails crossover album - Nine Inch Noize - tickles your fancy. Happy listening! 💙
DISCUSSION
"Quad dropping" has to stop
I mean, is there anyone that actually, genuinely, truly objects to Edge's statement below? It isn't just with Riddim that I've seen this discourse recently, but Drum & Bass too, where several DJs have taken to Instagram to essentially say, "Look, doubling can work in many cases, but playing four songs at once? Seriously?" I think I need a very clear example of four songs being played simultaneously sounding good, before that I can't imagine how it works.
Though is it as simple as just saying "stop doing it"? Especially in Riddim, there's a big culture of laying tracks over one another at the same time, which is the same in Drum & Bass too, where certain drops may run for a lengthy amount of time with high energy, but not too much idea change across it. This is a prime setup for playing several tracks concurrently, and as that practise becomes more normalised in a particular scene and culture of music, DJs and performers test the boundaries more. Maybe it's a case that the zenith has been reached with it, and we've collectively realised across several different kinds of Bass music that, actually, it doesn't work that well. It was a fun experiment, and worth trying out, but in reality there's just that bit too much going on for the listener to contend with. The ambition with it is great, and it's a logistical feat for anyone to pull it off live. But it still has to translate into something whole-sounding, and how often does that happen? Probably not that often. Show me a fantastic example of it and my thoughts could be swayed, though I'd still doubt how often that can be done. Having the combination of song choice - four tracks, lest we forget - with the timing of it being perfect is not easy at all.
What do you guys think? Should DJs mostly try to stay away from "quad dropping"? Is that simply to many ideas happening at once, or can it work for more conceptually straightforward styles of Bass music?
Are producers actually quitting?
This was extremely insightful, and the exact kind of discussion I was hoping for through sharing some content on the topic. I used Mythm and MUST DIE!'s tweets from a week ago about Bass producers quitting en masse, and asked whether this was actually happening - and more importantly, why. I'll link the reel below for both Instagram and X, and through there you can have a look at all the responses and conversation which, again, I thought was mostly very interesting and revealing.
Instagram link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXM3SoIjO6Z/?igsh=MWN5bHlwMXJmZjJvdw==
X link: https://x.com/nawtystepblog/status/2044832013769728075?s=46&t=TEbbHyZ3OlICtgts4_3J0g
FUNNIES // COOL STUFF
The lost Skrillex & Noisia album
This is the must-watch piece of content from last week. P4VAN - formerly known as Orifice Vulgatron, one half of legendary Rap duo Foreign Beggars - talks through a collaborative project between Skrillex and Noisia, which got made in the early 2010s when they were all living together, but never saw the light of day. Can you imagine what this sounds like? CAN YOU IMAGINE??!
Clip: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXMwMRCjjFP/?igsh=MW11bmViNTJnZG9pZQ==
Seeing as Skrillex is committed to releasing every single track he's ever worked on in some capacity, hopefully we'll see this project some day? Maybe? PLEASE?
History in Dubstep Ep. 4
Distinction back at it again! It's another great reel from him, as he attempts to recreate the album artwork for Skream's self-titled debut album in the exact place where the original picture was taken. Get watching!
Reel link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXFGE8EjKpT/?igsh=MXdnMjQ2YnJsdjlkdA==
The Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites bass
This is brilliant. The production tutorial company Cure shared a lengthy reel to X last week showing how you could make the main bass sound from Skrillex's legendary tune 'Scary Monsters & Nice Sprites' on your own. It's worth a watch for the producers amongst you of course, but is equally fascinating for anyone that knows and loves the song.
Link: https://x.com/cureaudio/status/2045588574238622075/video/1?s=46
Relatable?
I felt this one quite hard, and I don't even make music anymore. Maybe because I do a lot of vicarious living through friends of mine that still make music? It's possible.
Flux Pavilion 🤝 Foreign Beggars
Another cool anecdote from a huge figure within the modern Dubstep scene. We do bemoan the fact that short-form content has become such a big part of our everyday lives, which I think is right in a lot of ways. But one positive to take from it is that it's provided a space for people to share short, interesting stories from their life and work. Hence why we get tidbits like this from producers of Flux's stature quite regularly now, and I think that's a great thing. Happy reading! 📖
Also shout out 'Lines In Wax' by the way, what a track that is.
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Did I miss anything from the last week in Bass music? Let me know below! 😌