- A grab bag of recent tracks that showcases DJ SWISHA's impressively wide-ranging talent.
- Nobody knows the power of a good edit better than DJ SWISHA. At his recent set at a very muddy Dekmantel Festival, the New York-based selector ran through a delirious set of club tracks (including a take on Britney Spears' "Toxic") before landing on the big one: OSSX's breakbeat take on "DARE" by Gorillaz.
Of course the crowd went mad. SWISHA's intuition in this moment speaks to an essential skill that a working DJ needs to have, especially when playing more pop-facing genres like club. You have to read the room. In this case, the room was the Nest, Dekmantel's home for nonstandard and UK-facing genres that had seen sets from SHERELLE, DJ Lag and DJ EZ the year prior. The weather was bad, to put it mildly. The crowd needed a pick-me-up, they needed nostalgia and familiarity. The DJ answered. For all the recent social media hand-wringing over the place of pop edits in current dance music, SWISHA's approach to that specific set demonstrates that when they work, they work.
Only one of the tracks on SWISHA's latest release, Assorted Flavors Vol. 6—a footwork-focused take on Cajmere's classic "Percolator"—could be considered an edit. The rest are original cuts made from 2018 onwards, recollected from various compilations on labels like HAUS of ALTR and Juke Bounce Werk, arranged in order of ascending tempo with the slower material up front. All feel distinct from each other, but taken as a group they represent a distillation of the genre-agnostic style favored by SWISHA, his close collaborators such as Kush Jones, AceMo and MoMA Ready and the thriving New York club scene in general.
Some of the most interesting moments on the record tap into that spirit of purposeful eclecticism. "Pop n Shake," a collaboration with Kanyon, starts with a Miami bass beat and appropriately ribald sample, then quickly introduces a breakbeat before sprinkling in acid and progressive house elements. "New Luv" is the kind of tune you'd find soundtracking a vintage PlayStation game like Ridge Racer. Uptempo juke drums, high-energy piano house chords and a perfectly-placed soul sample make room for a beautifully kitschy MIDI pan flute melody—a detail that pulls the song together.
Other tracks hew closer to established styles: "Tweaked Out" is a perfect recollection of classic Teklife footwork, with a sprightly piano melody contrasted by a detached battle vocal full of humorous, weary derision. "Henndawg" channels chugging '90s techno with a very hollow, plastic-sounding tom and drum machine beats reminiscent of Jeff Mills or "Quoth."
Still, some of these tracks feel rough around the edges. "Fugue State" channels the best of classic atmospheric jungle with its jazzy vocals and swirling synth patches, but stops short of greatness. The same goes for the techno-footwork hybrid "Stardog," which comes in under three minutes and feels more like a sketch than a finished product. SWISHA has discussed this production philosophy before, saying he prefers to "push through and finish the song. Don't be a perfectionist." In this case, however, perhaps more time in the oven would have led to, if not perfection, then maybe something closer to it.
Of course, for an artist with such a massive discography—his Bandcamp page lists dozens of releases from edit packs and collabs to more serious projects—a few undercooked tracks doesn't mean much. Assorted Flavors Vol. 6 demonstrates SWISHA's commitment to versatility as a virtue, and the wide-ranging talent and stylistic breadth to pull it all off.
Tracklist01. Paradise Loop
02. Pop n Shake feat. Kanyon
03. Henndawg
04. WABBLEDEEDABBLEDEE
05. Fugue State
06. Juke-A-Later (DJ Tool)
07. Tweaked Out feat. Kush Jones
08. Tweaked Out feat. Kush Jones (Instrumental)
09. New Luv
10. Stardawg