By: Natty Morrison

Welcome to another weekly installment of Natty’s Picks of the Week, your one stop shop for the newest tracks, rising stars, breaking genres and industry trends, all delivered with smug attitude and condescending tones. I hope I didn’t use too many big words back there, just let me know if I need to slow down for you.

1. “Skittles” - Dubzilla

Crowned winner of the NiT GRiT remix contest, this Davis, CA producer started off with a jazz background. But when he heard bass music, all that jazz went out the window. On this standout original cut, he flexes serious bass muscle, but still maintains a sense of urgency and emotional force . Kind of reminds me of this one guy…NiT GRiT I think it was?

2. “Girl Material (Cassettes Won’t Listen Remix) - Turnbull Green

This gloomy LCD Soundsystem-like song starts out with weight, but holds off on the heavy. At least for a little while anyway. The already haunting vocals get the echo treatment, soaking the singer’s voice in wet reverb. And while the synths chop away in the background, the ambience starts to take center stage. The song may build to choruses and the bridge, but this song was already huge by the moment he started singing.

3. “Marmite Bust Gone Wrong V.3” - The Frim

This was suggested to me via Minnesota on his Facebook page. Nice call. This is pure bass music, no punches here. But there’s a definite tightness to his arrangements. The furious wobble bass drives the track, but that just gives him more space to drop dizzying samples left and right.

4. “Mirror” - Thom Yorke/Burial/Four Tet

Tom Yorke is certainly no stranger to the electronic side of things. With Radiohead he’s been helping to introduce electronic music into rock since the release of the groundbreaking Kid A in 2000. Here he decides to consult masterminds Burial and Four Tet, and ends up with a spooky, atmospheric and somewhat refined song. Just as Radiohead would have intended it.

5. “Always Fresh” - Carrier ft. Turf Dubz

This intense bit of dubstep comes from Ryan Meblin, formerly one half of NTRLD, and now known as Carrier. Following the happy success he found in NTRLD, Meblin wanted to continue past the group’s break up into the heavy and sometimes overwhelming realm of bass music. And that’s just what he’s done. This is a forceful cut; Meblin isn’t satisfied for you to know he’s fresh. He’s damn sure you’ll know he’s Always Fresh. And you’ll damn sure like it to.