By: Sanjay Gopal

"We're trying to make forward thinking, dark bass music and this is our best attempt yet.”

A computer science major like some of us, Carl Bell was afflicted by the subliminal power of bass music that turned him into a provider of the underground sound. Now, the producer and performer who goes by Black Carl, curator of this bass sojourn, has defined his own sound synonymously with the moniker once given to him at a house party.

Bell found SUBVERSE collective on Reddit a year ago; a bunch of people with the same goal in mind: to create, push boundaries, and ultimately get better as producers.

This morbidly grotesque bass orchestra speaks to the spirit underworld in hybrid tongues of break/glitch, gritty granular, and drum and bass. It eschews requirements of genre, bpm, and structure while still trying to make its way onto the dance floor.

"006 was our about hitting a sweet spot between danceable EDM and challenging, experimental electronic music."

The art is a neural network interpretation of what ancient civilizations may have looked like. It was done by their in-house graphic artist, neural network guru, and dnb wizard Wavefunk, who has been behind all of their art, so far.

"We wanted something to reflect the dark, evolving nature of our music: no two moments are the same. "

Wavefunk is among the standout contributors, along with JohnnySmall, tsou, and curator Black Carl himself, who offers up a collab with Chow Chow.

The lead track from anti_negative takes the listener into deep, dark neuro territory. One of the biggest higlights is the collab from Ell!psis x 'Trixx, which makes the “Babadook” as fresh and groovy as one could hope from such a terrifying creature.

Each new contributor to this compilation gives us a ton of extra homework, and excites us about the possibilities of newfound stars cropping up all around.

"As far as cohesion as an entire compilation, it's united in its love for diversity, unexpected sound design and synthesis, and almost macabre vibes. Shit's dark, sexy, and bumpin," notes Wahx.