Mengzy Selects – 034 / April

Welcome to ‘Mengzy Selects’, a monthly video column which features five recently released tracks by producers and labels in Asia and across the Asian diaspora. Your host is Mengzy: a Hong Kong-based DJ and producer, PhD in musicology, music journalist, and co-founder of Feed the Dragon.

Following an EP on Unknown To The Unknown last year, KWAKE debuted on Hong Kong’s Klasse Wrecks this month with ‘Nucleus’. We can’t get enough of the Sheffield producer’s title track: house and bleep perfection with a sprinkling of breaks…

Listen to ‘Nucleus’ here.

Rising drum ’n’ bass star IYRE tried his hand at garage recently with ‘UK Flavour’, featuring PAV4N, and we’re so glad he did. IYRE cites the Foreign Beggars frontman as a longtime inspiration, so it’s a full circle moment for the Sri Lankan producer that sounds sick.

Listen to ‘UK Flavour’ here.

Left, Right & Centre co-founder Korzi returns to the label after a four-year hiatus with his latest EP. Spanning a range of UK bass and techno influences, the release features two dubstep-inflected tracks: ‘Cracked Plates’ and, our favourite, ‘Shatterproof’.

Listen to ‘Shatterproof’ here.

With ‘Call Me Back’, Mumbai-based NATE08 miraculously turns the rage of being dodged on the phone into a sweet and summer-ready pop-house gem. Sahirah lends gorgeous Y2K-style R&B vocals to the production.

Listen to ‘Call Me Back’ (feat. Sahirah) here.

Melbourne-based Indonesian producer Rino shared his tour-inspired EP on April 2 via all my thoughts. Lush and bittersweet, title track ‘Running in Pairs’ is melodic half-time bass dripping with beautiful mallet and string textures.

Listen to ‘Running in Pairs’ here.