“NËU” means new in German, so pardon us for using that international pun almost every time Misanthrop and Phaces’s bespoke offshoot of Neosignal drops another release, but it is both true and fun. NËU008 just dropped today with two singles from Proxima, “Odd One” and “Jumpy” and they definitely have a different, “NËU” feel to them (OK, stopping now).
NËU does its own premieres for the little vignette singles it’s been releasing since late 2017 but since every release almost certainly contains at least one dancefloor banger and one chin-scratcher (sometimes both), so we like to feature them here at YEDM anyway. Unsurprisingly, Proxima’s offering ticks both boxes, with “Odd One” and “Jumpy” being both dancefloor stinkers and interesting mindbenders.
“Odd One” seems to be the best of all world, with a creeps, cinematic opening which launches into a bassface-inducing yet minimal and steppy drum loop with lots of darkstep synth ornamentation. It lays out its sound design for the chin-scratchers to analyze and be in awe of while being danceable enough that said chin-scratchers can’t help but skank while analyzing.
“Jumpy” is just about 180 degrees from “Odd One” in terms of style and structure but it’s also both interesting from a composition angle and highly danceable. It switches beat structures a number of time throughout, going from D&B to sort of a revers dubstep to halftime and back again. Synth-and-sample-wise, it also goes back and forth with both techstep and hard dubstep-tinged samples.
While not surprising that a pairing of Proxima and NËU would be sensational, the tracks themselves are quite surprising in their innovation and energy. It’s nice to see both Proxima and NËU continuing to poke the bear of creativity and coming up with such fun stuff.
“Odd One” and “Jumpy” are out now on NËU. Stream and purchase options by clicking here.