Their geographical backgrounds are in contrast to say the least. But the result is something special. Polish-born drum and bass producer Satl teams up with the Los Angeles-native vocalist Brandy Haze to supply an infectious blend of R&B meets D&B.
With their ‘LA Fling’ EP on The North Quarter, they give us five tracks sitting at the familiar 174 tempo, but with a fresh construction otherwise – bringing more warmth and butteriness than the standard liquid roller.
Brandy serves up rich vocals that don’t waver from her roots, bringing sounds and content that are largely untapped to the world of liquid underground D&B. Particularly on the tracks ‘Anxious’, ‘Unfortunate’, and ‘All Night’ where the moments of half-tempo – or no percussion whatsoever – reveal a truly R&B sound that’s getting a lift in energy from the beats.
From natural and stripped-back drum programming to unique melodies, Satl clearly approaches the production of these tracks differently to his other work – understanding the nuances of the soulful LA sound in combination with D&B’s rougher edges.
The pair – who currently only know each other virtually – have chemistry. This is perhaps most evident on ‘Call Me’ done in collaboration with EIJER, and the first single from the EP. The track leans more towards D&B than R&B this time, but the character comes from Brandy’s vocal, and the way it’s been manipulated. As an audio engineer herself, Brandy is able to hand Satl WAVs upon WAVs of ready-to-go vocals (much to his delight), and this is the reason ‘Call Me’s chopped and screwed sound is executed so well.
UKF had to know more about the R&B-meets-D&B, LA-meets-Poland dynamic. We sat down with both of them to discuss their process, techniques, and what they’re learning from each other’s worlds.
How did you two discover each other?
Adrian: Well I just found Brandy on Instagram!
Brandy: Sometimes the best way that it happens is internet connections.
Adrian: These days, on all these channels, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Soundcloud – you can discover so many great artists that you wouldn’t know about, doing the things that you like. And it feels very seamless because you can collaborate with anyone in the world.
So it was just an Instagram message from you to Brandy?
Yeah, one of her songs popped up on my feed, and I thought it sounded really good, so after listening to some more, I was thinking this is the stuff I’m aiming to do in the drum and bass realm. It felt like it could translate really well, so we thought we’d try it. We gave it a try and we’re here now!
Brandy: And Adrian introduced me to drum and bass, because before I’d never really heard about it.
That was going to be my next question. What’s your take on the genre being pretty new to it all?
Brandy: I’m finding now that there are so many artists who dabble in the genre. It’s one of those things where, before, when I didn’t know about it, it didn’t exist to me. But now that I know what I’m hearing a little more, I’m hearing so many artists I know who have a drum and bass track.
I don’t know if you would consider her strictly drum and bass – but Rochelle Jordan does some really cool stuff with house and dance music, I think she does have one or two D&B tracks too.
Are you noticing much of a crossover between underground dance music and R&B? It seems like a rare thing.
Brandy: Yeah I feel like right now, with this DJ-era on the rise, people are blending stuff together so much, dance music especially is getting mixed with all types of other genres.
Adrian: I also think drum and bass is having a big rise in the US at the moment – be it more mainstream or underground stuff. I think there’s a lot of exciting things going on over there. The way I see it, for so many years people in drum and bass were aiming for this jazzy style or deeper style. But R&B is popular at the moment – on the radio and underground – and I feel like us in drum and bass should move forward, along with it, and take more influence from what’s hot right now. Not be stuck in the past. There’s lots of new avenues to explore at the moment.
Drum and bass soldiers, the purists, would be hating on people using auto-tune in vocals or something. But with the technology there, why not take advantage of it and make something fresh? Rather than be stuck and follow the same patterns.
Are you two taking inspiration from any other peers?
Adrian: Within D&B, there are others who are getting involved with similar things – Halogenix, GLXY for example, we’re trying to push this R&B-inspired take on D&B. So on that side there’s definitely something bubbling.
Brandy: For me this is all-kind of fresh, and new, and I’m excited to be getting involved in it in the US, and helping drum and bass grow out here.
It does seem like it’s definitely starting to pick up a lot in the US as well. Submorphics is pushing that underground D&B sound with US influence.
Adrian: Yeah for sure. I listen to a lot of American music in my free time, and I feel like even the channels like Soulection, they are trying to explore D&B more. Which is very exciting, because they are one of these outlets who really inspire me with this D&B-R&B hybrid. It’s nice to see that side of the world taking on D&B and trying to translate it in their own terms.
Let’s talk about process – how does a track come together between you two?
Adrian: So the first two tracks we’ve done, ‘Today’ and ‘Call Me’, I had instrumentals which I sent to Brandy. But the other three were vocals that Brandy already had – so I built everything around those the other way around, pretty much from scratch.
Brandy: Yeah it was a little bit of both!
So on ‘Call Me’ and ‘Today’, Brandy – if you get sent those in D&B tempo, how did you adapt to that?
Brandy: Yeah I did try to follow the energy of the track a little bit more. But then also just being able to freestyle and try some different things, I knew it could be remixed and played with.
Yes! I noted ‘Call Me’ as one of my tracks of the year last year, and a big thing I loved about it was the fact that the vocals were so layered and chopped.
Adrian: And Brandy is an engineer herself, so that’s really good to work with as a producer – because she sends everything over like a pro. So I can have a field day with the vocals when I receive them, and really try to take them to different places.
Even with ‘Today’, we had so many parts we didn’t end up using. We just stuck to a few really strong parts that were re-arranged and edited. We ended up with something completely different than the original idea.
When Brandy can engineer herself, and put all the effects that she knows will work, it just makes my work easier. I’m getting something really high quality that I can take inspiration from, and take in all sorts of directions. I’ll send it to her throughout as well, to see what she thinks, and so I don’t take it too far into a weird direction!
Adiran, on the production side – how did you build those to have this R&B feeling? This whole EP does feel distinctly relaxed and smooth, even though it’s at D&B tempo and back-boned with energy…
Adiran: One of the things I often do with this style, is that I start the instrumental without any drums. So I’m not put into that D&B mindset, and I can have a full idea laid down before I put any drums in there to give it the rhythm. Sometimes, drum and bass being a specific tempo and the rhythm of the drums always being very similar, that can put you in a box.
If you don’t have that constraint and you’re just writing chords and melody, you can be more expressive. And sometimes when I work with vocalists, I will on-purpose not send them the instrumental with the drums, I will just give a hi-hat or something so that they’re not in the mindset of D&B when they’re writing.
Yeah, that approach is definitely noticed. Have you sat in the studio together yet?
Brandy: Not yet, but hopefully soon.
Adrian: Yes I’m working on my US visa to come and do a line of shows. But it’s a very long process. But if that happens I’m sure we will link up and make sure something happens.
Brandy: I would love to come over to your side of the world as well. And I definitely want to travel, so hopefully if not this year, next year I can have a nice little London tour.
We need to get you on the microphone at a drum & bass rave over here. Surely a TNQ at Phonox event…
Speaking of The North Quarter, is this D&B-R&B hybrid a sound that Lenzman has specifically been pushing for?
Adrian: Since I’ve joined the North Quarter, Teije has always given me a free hand – he’s said to do whatever I want, and if he likes it, it will get a release and make it work. So there hasn’t felt like any push from him in that direction. I feel like it came from me.
When I did the album at the end of 2022, after that I felt like I had to change my approach and a bit of what I’m doing. I was struggling to find a new direction, and after a couple of months, I felt like this hybrid was really speaking to me, so I naturally explored it more.
When the time came to do a follow up after the album, I sent all this over to Teije and he was on board. It’s really good because I didn’t feel any pressure to do a certain style and follow any other style. It just grew naturally.
Yeah it’s definitely different to Gloom.
Do you take a lot of inspiration from being in sort of a tunnel vision on a certain style, or is it more that you just make a bunch of tracks and eventually you get a collection that works for a project?
Adrian: I mean I never made music with a project in mind to be honest. This EP even, we have so many more tracks not on this release, and it’s just a matter of selecting them.
Excited to hear more. Are you both noticing a crossover of fans?
Brandy: I definitely notice more overseas fans now. I do have a big London fanbase, I guess from Soundcloud, I was pretty heavy on there in 2018. But I’m seeing it grow, and then other places around the world like Portugal and other spots in Europe are growing.
Adrian: I definitely have more of a fanbase in the US now. I think it comes from the fact that I listen to a lot of music that comes from there, and then I translate that into drum and bass, and I think they’re picking up on that. I’ve seen my American fanbase on Spotify grow from being quite far down to top 5 consistently.
Were you thinking about the way this project could affect your branding, for better or worse, with your existing fanbase?
Brandy: I think two things on this. Firstly, I think right now, where music is at, there’s so much being put out every day that fans will find what they like. People are also crossing genres more and more. You have people like Doja Cat who you can’t really put in a box.
I also started off with quite a housey sound to begin with, I had a song called ‘Conditional’ which blew up on Soundcloud. And it was very different, it wasn’t considered R&B or pop – it was much more in the dance music space. So I think my audience has been sort of warmed to this from the start, and the introduction of drum and bass is complementary, not jarring or anything.
And Adrian, I guess you’re kind of just known for going in all sorts of directions to your fans.
Adrian: Yeah, ever-changing! For me, I just like to write music, and whatever happens with it, whatever genre it ends up being, I don’t mind.
Sometimes the ideas start as a completely different genre. I’ll start with a UK garage track, hip-hop, and then they end up being D&B, or vice-versa. So I always enter it with an open mind, and not feeling like, this is sick, it needs to be drum and bass. Because it might sound better as a different genre.
Are each of you working with any other artists in this style?
Adrian: We haven’t really brought anyone else on the project. I have worked recently with some instrumentalists that make samples and things. I just feel like it’s quite fresh to bring in someone with a different idea, and then translate them. But on this project, only ‘Call Me’ was made with Eijer.
Brandy: For me, no I haven’t worked with any other D&B producers – not yet!
Not yet! But you’ve mentioned more is coming, and I heard it might be for 1985 Music?
Adrian: Yes. That’s actually another track with Eijer as well – I think that will be out in October or November as part of a VA compilation.
Apart from that, we’ve got a few other tracks. Literally this week I’ve been working on something with Duskee, where Brandy’s vocals will be featured as well. It’s got this MC and singer combo, which works really well. But that’s still in the works. We’ve got way more coming, but it’s just about timing and when we can make people hungry for this type of sound.
Have you noticed this sound is becoming quite sought after by D&B labels?
Adrian: Yeah I think so. I’ve worked with a lot of vocalists who are within drum and bass or came from drum and bass, but quite an exciting thing about Brandy is she hasn’t done any drum and bass before. I feel like that’s what makes it sound fresh, it’s so authentic, and she’s so good to work with. It doesn’t sound like we’re trying to force that hybrid sound, it just happens naturally. So hopefully people will start to notice and pay more attention to it.
Are you working on any genres together? You could make some great R&B or slower tempo stuff.
Brandy: Not that we’ve talked about, but Adrian… let’s visit that at some point.
Adrian: Definitely. Because Brandy stepped into my world, so it would be nice to do the reverse of that.
What’s on the horizon for you outside of this project, Brandy?
Brandy: I’ve got a lot more to release this summer – some collaborations, and something on the Kali Uchis-type vibe. I feel like we’re going to have a great summer of music, everybody is back into releasing so I can’t wait to hear what everyone else is dropping as well.
That post-covid hangover is well and truly gone.
Brandy: Exactly, everybody’s been looking forward to this summer!
Adrian: Definitely. And for me, it’s just the usual – lots of releases scheduled. There’s a few surprising ones coming too. Some stuff on Critical, 1985. This year I’m just dedicating myself to pushing the new sounds I’m into, and I’ve got a lot of interesting collaborations that people might not be expecting. There’s loads, it’s just a matter of when it comes out.
I’m really excited for what’s coming. Especially for the two of us, I believe we are onto something very unique, that not a lot of others are doing to the same extent. Hopefully that inspires other people to dive deeper into other genres, and be inspired by them. Like Brandy said, there’s so much good music being released every week, that you can really try and find your own unique combination of genres that you are influenced by, and pave your own way. And if you stick long enough, it’s going to pay off.
READ
