By: Jonathan Gross

A merengue breakdown in a riddim banger? Sounds like Mr. Bill and ill.Gates.

Last week ths pair released “Cabbatsu” on the latter's Producer Dojo label, and thrilled the bass world with a tune that crosses all sorts of genre boundaries. They had been touring special dates as Mr.Bill.Gates before the pandemic struck, and their fun collaboration was getting some excitable reactions from fans on the road. This is what ill.Gates had to say about it.

We were giggling a lot and played it out a few times, but felt it still needed a little something more. That's when we decided to hire Sylvain Carton to record us a 100% authentic horn section. That's the last thing you'd expect in the middle of a Dubstep/Riddim tune, right? It added this whole Star Wars Cantina band vibe that I feel really brings the whole thing to completion. I love seeing the confused looks on people's faces the first time they hear it. There's usually cheering at that point and then they go off extra hard when the bass comes back in after.

Fans may remember Carton as part of Empire Strikes Brass, Beats Antique's Creature Carnival, or most famously as part of Shpongle's live band, which made its final appearance at Red Rocks last summer. The crossover between heavy bass and heavy brass totally works, and makes this song completely uncategorizable.

Mr. Bill makes his return to The Untz Festival for the first time since its inaugural year back in 2016. He'll be performing with kLL sMTH as their collaborative project kLL Bill and also will break out a rare IDM set which fans might be familiar with from an iconic Tipper & Friends sunrise set or through his material on his Billegal Beats label.

Listen/Download 'Cabbatsu'