Your EDM Premiere: Bad Syntax and Zaiaku Proudly Declare ‘I Am The Viper’ [Close 2 Death]

Continuing on our theme this week of dark DnB bad bitches stateside, today’s premiere comes from the LA phenom known as Bad Syntax and Vegas low-key legend Zaiaku, Bad Syntax is a rising star no matter what geographical location you’re looking at, with tracks on some big labels already like Viper and Formation. For his new track “I Am The Viper” feat. MC Tell due out March 26 on Close 2 Death, he enlisted the help of three artists for the remixes: the Duo Stoner & Dottor Poison and Zaiaku.

The original “I Am The Viper” is a fast, steppy neuro-forward grinder with clean lines and a really different and echoey snare. What melody the track has is sort of backloaded, as if it’s not really meant to compliment the beat but more to hang in the ambient space and provide mood rather than actual melody. The track has enough forward momentum with its rolling beat; no need to complicate a good DnB track with something silly like music anyway.

The Stoner & Dottor Poison remix seems to sort of reverse the beat of the original, making the track more jumpy but not exactly jump up. Here they did add two melodies which occupy different sections of the track but they’re so high pitched and metallic, no one is going to mistake this for a liquid track; we’re still very much in neuro territory.

Finally the Zaiaku remix and our Your EDM premiere almost completely scrambles both previous versions, as the Multikill darling is wont to to. The intro has more of an old school darkstep feel but that doesn’t last after the first drop. Instead a distorted, echoed drum beat takes its place. One could say that this beat is jump up or steppy but for the fact that it lands on the two and four beats rather than the one and three or all four like in a standard jump up structure.

The music around Zaiaku’s unique and fairly odd but still danceable beat is a little more in line with Bad Syntax’s original, though it seems Zaiaku has composed more of a synth-forward part to roll along with the beat rather than that big being back in the sound design. That said, there’s plenty of mood-setting sound design in the ambient space along with lots of grinding phrase transitions. Interestingly, this remix is the shortest of the three versions of “I Am The Viper” but it has the most distinct sections. Between the intro and the main track not having the same beat and the last 20 seconds of the track switching to somewhere between a halftime and dubstep tempo, Zaiaku certainly keeps the audience on its toes.

While all the artists on these three versions of “I Am The Viper” are still building their discographies, it’s clear that each of them has a unique sound and each of them will find a place in the DnB annals. While Bad Syntax, Zaiaku and Stoner & Dottor Poison seem to just be warming up, this track will be a highlight in each of their release lexicons.

“I Am the Viper” and its remixes will be out Monday, March 25 on Close 2 Death. Check Beatport for all the versions.