Annix would seem like an unlikely artist to have been signed to Playaz, as his aggressive, neuro-driven brand of jump up isn’t exactly aligned with Playaz’s own branding. The largely jungle-driven label has been branching out lately, however, and Annix’s most recent EP release, The Dog Knows is a great example of what this label is capable of if it diversifies its style portfolio, so to speak.
A duo consisting of Konichi and Decimal Bass are said to have been hand-picked by Hype and Pascal themselves in 2012, and that choice was certainly a nod to Playaz branching out, as it gave Annix the freedom to experiment with their funky yet hard-edged sound. This shows on The Dog Knows, as each track has nods to various styles, and always an homage to the original jungle styles of originators like Hype, as the duo are fond of doing.
A good example of this style melding is the EP’s opener, “If I Told You I’d Have to Kill You,” whose beat is a modern, neuro driven backfire beat while the bassline is largely techstep. The title track, a collab with Prestige, also follows along these lines, but with a little more jump up to the beat. “Maintain” goes back to a more rolling bassline but still with a grinding quality and some fun old jungle samples, while “Cold Killer,” a collaboration with Turno, is a dark jump up track which straddles several styles.
Unfortunately, full tracks for this EP are not available to stream, but a playlist on Playaz gives decent clips of the tracks. The full EP can be purchased on a number of platforms by clicking here.
