These are uncharted times. The new normal has arrived so quickly it’s hard, and not particularly pleasant, trying to keep up. Many of us are on complete lockdown, all of us are under a cloud of unsurety. People are dying.
Every single of us has been, and will be, affected by this. And the situation is going to continue getting worse for some time to come. More events are being rescheduled and cancelled and festival season looking more uncertain by the day. But extraordinary times inspire extraordinary creative actions. Actions like these from the insanely talented Degs…
Music can be made and played in lockdown, audiences can congregate online and artists and labels are reacting to these unique times in interesting ways from tuition to streams to setting up creative communities on Twitch and Patreon programs.
Over the course of the coronavirus outbreak we’ll be highlighting many of these projects as many artists – especially new and emerging ones who’ve only just started on their path – will be finding ways to work through this bleak global experience we’re all going through. As if it wasn’t hard enough making a living from a creative lifestyle already.
Music and creativity always find a way, though. And with us all staying indoors much more this year, we’re likely to see even more music being made in different ways and being distributed and shared in different ways. The already rife free downloads culture is likely to rise, too. Just yesterday Maztek dropped the rave-laced Arphlex with a fitting sub-title…
Elsewhere, if you’ve toyed with the idea of production but haven’t found the time, now is definitely the time. More artists are starting to run tutorials than ever before. Jack Workforce, meanwhile, has set up a Must Make community page for creative people of any levels to share ideas and help each other get the most creative results during one of the strangest times we’ve experienced in our lifetimes.
This first Anti-Virus round-up includes some of the interesting things people have set-up or run over the last weekend. Please get in touch if you have any similar projects, programs or plans that are a direct action to coronavirus by emailing editor@ukf.com
Cool people will always continue doing cool things, despite the uncharted, unpleasant and unsure circumstances, pressures and challenges. Here are just a few examples…
Bandcamp
We are all in this together. Some artists and labels have identified that all of us are being hit by this financially so they’re making sure their music is accessible. Dub Phizix, as always, hits the nail on the head.
Dub Phizix’s Bandcamp is right here. Two exceptional labels have also made similar moves.
London’s Rebel Music – home to a heavy array of established and new upcoming hitters such as Skuff, Kolectiv, Hadley, Creatures and many more – have cut their Bandcamp prices by 50%.
Methlab have also done the same. While no longer releasing new music, the label’s catalogue is still available and on Bandcamp with a 50% discount if you use the discount code coronavirus. Allied’s recent album Kailash is especially recommended…
Inspiration
If you’re under lockdown and looking for creative inspiration or ways to get out of a production rut and think about your productions differently then here are two interesting new projects established lately…
Workforce has developed his Must Make platform with a community page. Following recent podcasts with donnnies dBridge and LSB, Must Make focuses on the creative process, the myriad ways to go through it, its many highs, lows and absolute headaches. The community page will do the same in real time as it attracts like minded creatives to continue the discussion. Sign up here.
Meanwhile Belgian audio / visual artist Corrupted has set up Lockdown.Type.Beat as a platform to encourage making music every day during lockdown and will share and tag everyone who shares their work.
Tuition & Tutorials
Tutoring has long since been a strong tradition for producers, especially in drum & bass as many prominent big guns and long-timers offer one-to-one sessions and classes. This will most definitely rise in the coming months. Case in point: the mighty Current Value.
Tuition from one of the most technical artists in electronic music seldom happens at this level. He’s not alone. Scratch wizard Jon 1st (who did this exceptional UKF mix with Captain Crunch a few years back) is offering tutorials, classes and advice on his Twitch channel.
Another artist offering similar skills is HumaNature. Mentioned on this site just last week in this interview with young Dutch artist Leniz, HumaNature has been mentoring artists and offering tuition for some time but has now added an additional service on his Patreon account.
Philth is also upping his tuition operations as a result of the sudden locked down time we’re experiencing. Long-time teacher, his student roster has been kept tight to a small few students in recent years as his artist career continues to rise. During the next few months he’ll be taking new bookings from aspiring artists. You can hit him up on his Facebook.
Another artist who’s set up a new project as a result of the current situation is Quartz. Close ally Warm Communications and Metalheadz, the young Welsh artist has set up a Twitch channel and will be providing his insight and skills to help others over the coming months.
Streaming
Streaming is likely to be the biggest area where we’ll see more action from artists over the coming months and it’s already happening a significant level. You’d be wise to keep eyes on Drum&BassArena and D&BTV in the near future, for example, as they’re about to launch a new series.
Meanwhile Rampage Radio this weekend was a significant success. Pendulum, Matrix & Futurebound, Delta Heavy and Koven all linked up for an immense showdown in Pendulum’s studio on Saturday when the Belgian event had to reschedule. Check the full four hour anti-corona chaos right here…
Meanwhile in dubstep, Jool, Whales, Megalodon, Hi I’m Ghost and Dub Rebellion have created Bedroom Sessions where they’ll be hosting regular online sessions and inviting artists who’ve experienced cancelled tours as a result. Tuesday March 17 sees Dr Ozi and Soltan taken the controls while Thursday March 19 will be stacked with heavyweights as Pixel Terror and Kismet all join the crew. Join them here.
Elsewhere, Irish drum & bass soldiers Boey Audio are looking to set up streams on the Irish Drum And Bass community page and have also launched a line of t-shirts to make up for a series of event cancellations. While Visionobi’s Facebook page has a whole host of great sets from last Friday night. When Fabric decided to temporarily close doors during the outbreak, Visionobi took his planned room 3 party to his own gaff. Sustance, Maximous and Specone are all representing, they even bought a laser for the occasion…
Another interesting initiative that’s just launched in the last few days is Festream. A brand new project established to bring DJs together and stream their sets from wherever they are, they’re currently looking for artists to get involved.
These are just some of the streaming activities we’ve seen as a direct result of the coronavirus outbreak. With more projects being discussed between artists and organisations, we’ll see plenty more over the coming months.
Patreon Programs
Without doubt, Patreon programs are the best way to support your favourite artists. You know that your money is going direct to them and get your hands on exclusive or other services like tuition or cool production.
Adaptable for any artist and the tiered packages they want to offer, Patreon seems very transparent in terms of what the artist is offering and what they’re hoping to achieve with the program. Usually the sole preserve of super fans, Patreon has existed for a while but the rise in more underground artist accounts in the last few days is no coincidence and there’s some really interesting services being offered, especially from an aspiring producer perspective. These are ones we know of and recommend so far…
Black Barrel
The only place to get your hands on this Russian roustabout’s naughty bootlegs and a few cheeky dubs, Black Barrel is offering a three-tiered program which includes videos, samplepacks and, for gold members, even VIP status at his shows. He’s done a showcase mix of the sounds on offer on his samplepack as an example…
Hyroglifics
Critical Music’s Hyroglifics has also launched a Patreon account this week. As well as exclusive music, his program has some great benefits for aspiring artists as he offers to provide mixdown and compositional feedback on tracks pro-tips and videos showing his creative process, plus loads more.
IMANU
The man, the myth, the ramen connoisseur Jonathan IMANU launched his Patreon on Saturday and stacked up so many subscribers the bundle of exclusive tunes are already gone. He’s going deep with this as subscribers will be able to get feedback on productions, patches, early heads on activities, production tips, videos and access to his Discord channel. Here’s a showcase of the tracks 100 lucky Patreoners now own…
Paul SG
Aspiring producers pay attention. Jazzsticks bossman Paul SG is offering some pretty detailed feedback and tuition skills right here including one hour tutorial sessions and feedback on up to five tracks per month. With a history and production pedigree than includes the seminal Goodlooking, this is a great opportunity for any budding beatsmith.
Flexout
Patreon accounts work just as well for labels, as shown by Flexout. They’ve just launched a program with two types of service: Flexout Dubplates which offers you releases two months ahead of release and Flexout Family where you’ll get all vinyl and merch sent direct ahead of release and feedback on your productions or DJ mixes from the label bossman Bassi.
Satl
Exclusive mixes, production feedback, samples, FX, tunes and the remix parts to his massive Everything Anything… All this and more is on offer from Polish craftstman Satl with his recently launched Patreon account. We spoke to Satl only a few months ago around his exceptional EP on The North Quarter and he explained how he was just about ready to jump into making music full-time. Events like this bring home the reality of how precarious any life in the creative industry can be.
Teddy Killerz
Last but not least, Teddy Killerz have also launched a Patreon program in the last few days. In fitting fashion, the tiered subscriptions range from serious (free music, production tips, samples) to rather surreal (Russian tutition, TV series and a PUGB game with Garud) At the heart of it is production advice and feedback on your music. Opportunities for artists of this level to take time to listen to your music and come back with constructive feedback, at just a tenner a month, don’t come round often.