Celebrating a welcome return to the ever-reliable C4C Limited, Danish drum and bass DJ and Instinkt member Bytecode is back with Debug the Silence, a four-track project spotlighting his penchant for pumped-up steppers.
The new EP marks the celebrated producer’s first outing on the label since last year’s Parasite two-tracker, although that’s not to say he’s taken his foot off the gas; the past few months have also seen him guest twice on the Rotterdam-based, UKF-approved label Korsakov Music, lending his talents to Transforma’s syncopated bruiser “Mindflayer” as well as the track’s hip-hop-leaning halftime VIP. Plus, as the brains behind nascent label Code Smell Music, the label boss has also recently invited fellow C4C affiliate TR Tactics to remix his hit “Kinetic”, with the Austrian producer’s take amassing thousands of streams.
From its title to its spoken-word sample selections, Debug the Silence is a decidedly cinematic affair from the outset. Pulsating synths and suspenseful cymbals initiate the tense atmospherics of “Symptoms”, which spirals into ferocious crescendos punctuated by razor-sharp basslines and dogged snares. Meanwhile, Spanish selecta Juno steps up to take on “Paradox”, the B-side to last year’s “Ragnarok” single, ambitiously redefining it as a juddering future funk belter while retaining elements of the track’s original vision.
The latter half of the EP is just as hard-hitting, with Sofia-based mic man Lifesize MC on hand during the second half of the winding, pared-back “Deadlock” – which pairs entrancing melodies with crunchy low-end and high-octane breaks to result in one of Bytecode’s most innovative numbers yet. Last on offer is the sparkling “Interrupt”, wherein the expert application of dynamic range finds the song’s initial frenzied arpeggios reigned in, instead favouring sparse drops anchored on breathy vocal samples and murmuring basslines.
The Debug the Silence EP hits digital service providers on 6 September 2021.
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