ZKY New Standards EP

D’Julz’s Bass Culture Records signs up ZKY for four exceptional deep house cuts.

ZKY’s ‘New Standards’ EP on Bass Culture opens up with ‘Zycho’, a lithe house sound with wispy pads that bring cosmic colour to its dynamic groove. It’s endlessly on the move and ramps up the tension with tripped-out chord movements. The fantastic ‘Floating Phonk’ then slows things down via funky loops and sprinkles of organic percussion. Filtered, cut-up vocal samples enter the mix next to smudged pads, adding warmth to ice-cold beats and otherworldly vocal murmurs.

‘Sonar Train’ showcases ZKY’s machine mastery, continuing his ‘New Standards’ EP on Bass Culture with grounded drum sounds accompanied by infectious synth work, making for a track set to light up any dance floor. ‘Feeling’ rounds out the release with muted chords and crawling, soft acid bass, swinging drum grooves getting things moving in this timeless new outing on D’Julz’s Bass Culture.

Co-founder of Cabinet Records and running his own Ground Service Records, ZKY has been in the thick of the scene since the 90s, putting out an array of sounds across the house, minimal and tech spectrum as one half of Cab Drivers, and under aliases including Horseshoe, Warten Borgmann, Compass and more.