Reece Mercadante is an individual who’s no stranger to the drum & bass genre. Born and bred within Perth’s thriving scene, he’s committed himself to helping grow its local roots and as a result, has become a notable figure across Australia’s line ups and its homegrown labels. His own music has also been making waves and through his new solo venture, #DeadZodiac, he’s about to create a fresh space for himself within the dance music market. Through this alias his aims will remain the same; to only deliver the most cutting edge and forward-thinking bass music, the type of which can already be seen on labels such as #Santoku, #Lifestyle, #Close2Death, #FormationRecords and his own imprint #Protocode.
#Protocode has become just as much of an identifiable force as more long-standing platforms, with support from a host of mainstay names. Already spinning their cuts are DJs like #StateofMind and #ZombieCats; it’s through this exposure that both #DeadZodiac and #Protocode have been able to spread their reaches and solidify themselves within global corners. And his forthcoming EP on #Protocode offers four more examples of how he’s managed to achieve this.
Injecting the same energy which has seen him win the coveted Best Drum & Bass DJ at the Perth Dance Music Awards twice, in both 2012 and 2013, ‘#TheFall’ EP highlights how #DeadZodiac has found himself on line ups alongside legends, most notably #AndyC. From the growing bass overtures of tracks like ‘#TheFall’, alongside the sublime vocals of #VeronicaBravo, through to the elongated drum patterns of ‘#Breathless’, #DeadZodiac & #Jaise go full throttle throughout this next release. Meanwhile, tracks like ‘#Fiction’ with its rattling bassline add versatility to the chaos, proving that he has many flavours of the tear-out flexes he has at his fingertips. Old-school reminiscent tracks like ‘#ElysianFields’ push a melodic groove beneath his biting beat patterns and together, the package shows a selection of the producer’s sonic attributes. This is another full-frontal release from #DeadZodiac, who’s been given complete creative freedom through #Protocode.
That’s why so much attention has been turned towards the label and the exploration of its label head’s sounds.
