One of DMNW’s favorites, Zeds Dead, dropped a bombshell announcement this week. The revered bass music duo celebrated the fifth anniversary of their flagship label, Deadbeats, by announcing a new downtempo bass label called Altered States. But that’s not the only news they shared. Zeds Dead will also release a mixtape called Catching Z’s with its first single on Friday, March 5.
Zeds Dead highlighting a niche segment of bass: downtempo
Both their mixtape and new label will showcase a unique side of experimental bass music. When many people think of bass music, they picture screeching dubstep and aggressive drops. But downtempo (sometimes used interchangeably with trip hop) is more about easy listening in a similar vein to ambient music. Downtempo encompasses a wide array of musical themes, but the main point of convergence is its laid back nature.
This is far from Zeds Dead’s first rodeo with downtempo music. In 2016, the pair released an hour-long downtempo mix on SoundCloud, Catching Z’s Volume 1. Spinning a hefty array of relaxed hip hop and 90’s R&B with a whole slew of others in the mix, it’s amassed over 2 million plays to date. Since then, they’ve released Catching Z’s Volume 2 and Volume 3, the latter of which dropped just shy of a year ago.
Altered States leaves a lot of lingering questions
With a lengthy history of exploring genres outside of their bread and butter dubstep, the move to create a stable to focus on more downtempo tracks isn’t entirely surprising. Although we don’t know much about who else will release on Altered States, Zeds Dead has proven time and time again that they’re dedicated to giving a platform to up and coming artists.
Whether through their long-running weekly radio mix or on their Deadbeats label, all kinds of bass music artists are elevated and it’s almost certain the new label will be no different.
Check out their new single on Friday as we wait for the mixtape
As the first release on their brand new label Altered States, their new mixtape boasts 12 brand new tracks. We get a taste of the forthcoming album this Friday with their single, late night drive. We couldn’t be more excited to see what Zeds Dead has cooking up their sleeve for the new album. If their previous Catching Z’s mixes are any inkling, it’ll be served on repeat for months to come.
Listen to late night drive out on Friday and pre-save the album here. Then, huddle up with the rest of us as we wait for more details on the new project. You can follow along on Altered States’ new Instagram and Facebook pages.
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