After a fantastic year of quality releases featuring the likes of Otik, Cameo Blush, Demuja, Nikki Nair and Ivy Lab, legendary Australian label Future Classic now closes its 2023 with a compilation consisting of its heaviest hitters from the past year.

“In my eyes, each of these artists represents the refreshing and exceptionally talented voices and producers emerging in modern dance music at the moment. It’s been a pleasure to work across each of these releases, and I am excited to welcome Memphis LK and Stones Taro to the fold, too!” – Andy Garvey

Among its twelve tracks sit two fresh new remixes and an original from the emerging Japanese artist Stones Taro. The first remix is by Memphis LK, who reimagines Sycco’s pop-infused, vocal-laced breakbeat track ‘Ripple’ to an evocative garage number. She is then followed by a DJ Slugo remix of Martyn Bootyspoon’s ‘These Nike Shox’. The ghetto house pioneer imbues an already pumping track with juking, boundless grooves, amplifying it for the dance to great effect.

“I loved ‘Ripple’ as soon as I heard it, what jumped out to me particularly was how much colour and personality the main synth sound has. I had so much fun chopping and creating my own version of that sound. I wanted to create a dirty crunchy breakbeat version of the track that still kept the playful and emotional energy of the original.” – Memphis LK

Stones Taro then provides us with ‘Final Rule’, fusing raw bass, hypnotic vocal snippets and gorgeous melodic soundscapes into a potent, psychedelic dancefloor trip carefully laid over a garage shuffle. Following years of growing global talent like Flume, Flight Facilities, and the late SOPHIE, this compilation shows us a glimpse of Future Classic’s promising future in the club.

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Ivy Lab, also known as Sabre and Stray, willfully break down genre boundaries with the ‘Demon Dust’ EP. It is born from a love of UK bass but plays with tempo, collides hip-hop with jungle, LA humidity with London grit, and so much more. Following releases on the likes of Dirtybird and their own TWTW London imprint, they now land on the Australian Future Classic label, with the first single ‘Backshifting’ dropping in November and the entire EP following suit in December.

“We’ve built a hunger to unleash a solid season of dance floor material and to do so in spaces we’ve either neglected in recent years or yet to have turned our hand to. We’re still always gonna carry our baggage as bass heads with a love of hip-hop with us, but the genre pool where we can explore those themes is deeper than ever, and we have so much to say in that conversation” – Ivy Lab

Successfully test-driven by dBridge and Ehua at Draaimolen, opener ‘Backshifting’ is a joyous blend of dusty breakbeats and pitched-up vocal hooks that make the heart flutter. The sound design is next level as the fractured loops and bursts of synth all soar and bring the good times. ‘Fool’ is a deeper excursion with gentle amen breaks worked into a sinewy house groove that bubbles and souls with mystic hooks and warm chords. The title track ‘Demon Dust’ highlights another angle, blending screwy acid with beautiful piano chords, bursts of breaks, gospel chorals and slamming hits. US scene mainstay Nikki Nair then remixes ‘Backshifting’ with his signature blend of percussive club music, closing out a hugely original EP that combines many different moods and genres, all to energising and emotional effect.

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‘I Like That (Jungle Music)’ opens Sempra’s ‘Call Me’ EP on Future Classic with crisp, racy drums and a hushed vocal. It’s a true homage to ‘90s breakbeat and hardcore, with dreamy synths and pitched-up vocals at the forefront, while a dark reese bass sneaks up on the track’s euphoric arrangement throughout.

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