Friendly Fire Pairdrops

There’s something about a good collaboration when the chemistry is already there before anyone’s opened the DAW. Similar tastes, shared references, a mutual appreciation for each other’s tunes, then someone sends over a stem and things get a little bit out of hand.

That’s the idea behind this latest Friendly Fire, bringing together JNG and Tonton, Muckaniks and Tom LeChef, and BUTCHABOI and Lotrax for Southpoint’s Pairdrops project.

Across the three pairings, there’s plenty of crossover. JNG and Tonton found common ground between broken-beat 2-step, D&B and 4×4 pressure, while Muckaniks and Tom LeChef seem to have approached the whole thing with the energy of two mates who probably shouldn’t be left unsupervised around a project file. Then there’s BUTCHABOI and Lotrax, connecting over speed garage, hard dance, trance and those big emotional dancefloor moments that stick around long after the tune’s finished.

For this one, we asked each artist to dig through the other’s catalogue, pick out a favourite track and mix, and talk us through what made the collaboration click.

JNG on tonton

It’s been really cool to get the opportunity to work with tonton. We first came across him via the team at Southpoint. We first checked out his instagram and noticed clips from his mix for ‘Rhythm Rails’, they sounded sick so we jumped straight onto YouTube to see what he was all about. The moment we heard his mix and productions, we knew the combination of our sounds would be something special! 

His track ‘All Of That’ has always stood out to us. It’s just such a vibe and so creatively well put together. 
We were super excited when he sent over the first draft of our track ‘Marathon’ because we instantly knew what direction we wanted to go with it. After a bit of back and forth we ended up with what we think is a perfect combination of our sounds.

tonton on JNG

When the idea of a collaboration with JNG was first suggested, I was already aware of them and the quality of their tunes. They had just released their first EP with Southpoint which I really enjoyed, but when I heard their track ‘Slot ‘Em,’ I started to feel that this project had serious potential. With that track I could tell we could really get on the same page as it’s the type of vibe I’ve been chasing in my own music – a crispy, broken beat 2-stepper with a bassline that shines with its subtlety, nuance, and class, rather than high frequency aggression. My kind of tune. It’s ironic that we ended up making quite an energetic 4×4 track but I think under the hood it still speaks to that sensibility of restraint and finesse.

Back when I was perusing JNG’s catalog I stumbled upon an old mix from their drum and bass days: their set at Solidarity Festival 2023. Unlike the JNG boys, I do not have a background in DnB, but funnily enough it’s been inspiring me a lot as of late. There’s something about the very sharp breaks and some of the more minimal basslines and atmospheres that can really have an effect on me, especially in the dance (in fact, my next EP is directly inspired by 2 DnB raves I attended earlier this year). Hearing JNG tap into that side of music further solidified my confidence in the idea of making something with them.

MUCKANIKS on TOM LECHEF

It’s crazy with Tom because we’ve probably only known each other about a year now but he’s one of those people I just click with and it feels like we’ve been mates for years. We’re very similar to each other in a lot of ways and that’s a massive boost when it comes to collaborating. 

My favourite tune of his will probably always be ‘U Can’t Brawl’ – it’s one of his more stripped back tunes with proper focus on the low end. Just full on in your face energy and it goes off every time I play it. Nothing fancy about it and I like that.

I’m gonna be biased when it comes to a mix/set, our B2B at Wild Gardens Festival this year was just class for so many reasons. It worked effortlessly and behind the decks we were both creasing the whole time and just having a proper laugh. There were defo a few clangers in there but it’s one of them where you charge it because the vibes were so on point. 

I think you can sum us both up as artists when you hear that we had a different tune locked in for this project for about 3 months, then a couple weeks back decided we wanted to make a new one. It stressed everyone out, it was class.

TOM LECHEF on MUCKANIKS

My favourite MUCKANIKS track has to be ‘Baggidup’. Ryan is probably the person I’ve connected with most since entering the scene. We’re a similar age, have a very similar sense of humour and just clicked straight away, both as mates and musically. I think that chemistry is a big part of why making music together has felt so natural.

Baggidup pretty much sums up everything I love about his music. It’s mean, chunky and unapologetic, like Ryan (lol) It’s one of those tunes that doesn’t need loads going on because every element is doing exactly what it needs to. The vocal sample is absolutely quality as well and gives the whole thing so much attitude. It feels like a proper statement record.

Annoyingly, it’s also one of those tunes where I hear it and think, “yeah, I wish I’d made that.” Which is probably about the highest compliment I can give another producer.

My favourite Muckaniks mix has to be his Ministry of Sound set. It’s basically everything you’d want to hear from a Muckaniks set packed into one mix. You get loads of his best-known tunes alongside plenty of other raw bangers that fit his sound perfectly.

I think what I like most about Ryan as a DJ is that you can hear his personality in what he plays. There’s no overthinking it, it’s just proper fun, low end heavy club music with loads of attitude. The Ministry set is probably the best introduction to the Muckaniks sound if you’ve somehow managed to avoid it so far, go check it out

BUTCHABOI on Lotrax

I think my fave Lotrax track has to be Give Me Some Luv. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a massive fan of. anything with that ethereal trancey feel and this one deffo hits the spot for me. The pianos and the vocal give it this really dreamy vibe that I love while still having enough bass to keep it feeling like a proper groovy dancefloor track. It’s like one of those tunes that manages to feel kinda emotional but also makes you wanna dance which I think is always a really nice balance in a tune.

LISTEN TO BUTTERFLY EFFECT MIX HERE

For the mix, I had to go with his Butterfly Effect mix on SoundCloud. Honestly, it’s basically like he’s made a mix using my USB lol. There are so many tunes in there that I’d be playing myself, and the whole selection just feels very close to my own taste. I remember listening through it and actually thinking I swear this literally sounds like one of my mixes and it’s a really good example of why I rate his taste as much as his production. It feels like one of those mixes where you can just stick it on and before you know it you’re wondering where the time went.

Lotrax on BUTCHABOI

From growing up in Glasgow watching UKF on youtube when a was a wee guy to now chasing a career in Music in Manchester, got a bitta a full circle feel to it. It’s been sick being able to collaborate with BUTCHABOI on the Southpoint Pairdrops release. When the opportunity came up it was daft not to dive in, our sounds lean into the same sonic space of speed garage and hard dance that it felt like a nice wee marriage of her experience and flavours with mines. Glasgows music scene’s rich with a lot of older classics from the 90s and 00s dance eras, and listening to BUTCHABOI’s tunes I can hear they have loads of elements that belong in those windows of time. She’s got a tune called Really Mine, one of many with a higher pitched vocal, ravey and emotional piano progression and the classic M1 Korg Organ Bass. You know that way certain sounds just tickle your sweet spot? Tunes like them ones me n the troops would wack on in a field on a wee BT speaker in the summer when a was younger. 

Same goes with her mixes, packed with the hard house, speed garage, trickled with some euro trance elements. Her Octaine: Nitro mix has a lot of that, dance tunes with emotion through the build ups that leads into the drops: hands in the air type beat. Am massive on getting emotion into music, almost all tunes a listen to, and even more so the ones a leave for years and come back to, have a level of emotion that draws ye back in, takes ye back to a time, know wit a mean? Anyways shoutout Southpoint for the call up onto Pairdrops, and big shouts BUTCHABOI for the stems that kicked our project off, it’s gonna be MAGIC 😉

—