Keep your loved ones close because Riot Ten isn’t taking any prisoners. The bass music mayhem maker’s debut album is an all out sonic assault on your senses. “Hype or Die: Nightmares” stays true to his past productions and goes straight for your ear drums and your heart rate with an all out barrage of grinding saws and thunderous percussion. From the first kick to the last, Riot explores all facets of the genre with expert precision and if the name is any indicator, this one might give you nightmares. Sweet, sweet nightmares.

Riot Ten sat down and went track by track to detail his inspiration and approach to crafting his debut bass masterpiece.

MAYHEM (INTRO)

This song had to set the tone for the album. I wanted to make something short and sweet that would summarize that “hype or die” sound outside of dubstep. I’ve never liked being placed into a genre box so I wanted to make it apparent that this album would be all over the place.

GLOCKS

SAYMYNAME and I go way back. We’ve watched each other grow from day 1 and it’s been nothing but love. I’d honestly say this collaboration is about 5 years in the making, so to finally have something coming out is exciting. Due to our storied history, I can see this being one of the most anticipated of the year.

HYPHY

Damn, what can I say about this one? This may actually be my most anticipated song to release since Rail Breaker.  I’ve been playing it out for around 8 months now and the response has been incredible. YDG and I just flowed so well on this track together and I couldn’t be more excited to finally release it.

BODIES

Titus has been one of my favorite vocalists for a while now. He can do it all. When I came to him with the track, he was super excited about it and just made me that much more hyped for the outcome. This song also has one of my favorite intro/verses that I’ve ever produced and has also become a fan favorite. 

FREAKY

I’ve been sitting on this track for so long now just waiting for the right time to release it. It’s hip hop, but it’s different than anything else I’ve done so the timing had to be perfect on it. Whookilledkenny makes some of the catchiest stuff I’ve heard and he’s become a good friend of mine over the years. Stoked to finally be able to drop this one.

NO CEILINGS

I wanted to showcase some of the straight rap stuff that I do because its literally what i started producing back when I was 16 years old. It’s also what I turn to most often if I ever need a change of pace. I met Le$Laflame in Las Vegas at a rap show and knew right away i wanted him on a song. You can expect more music in this direction in the future as well.

SHOWDOWN

Back at it again with my ace, Throwdown. As I am sure you’ve noticed by now, we work really well together. We actually looked for the right vocals for this song for months and finally got Atarii to knock it out (who I have worked with in the past as well). This is one of my favorite songs on the album.

FREAKY VIP

I just had to make a VIP to this. I’ve always been a fan of bass house and wanted to create something that would be more conducive during live shows. 

NEVER WIN

I previewed this song a while back and got a huge response. I love making music like this and showcasing this side of me. It feels so incredibly satisfying. The song features vocals from a long time friend of mine blvkkhvrt, who I truly believe is going to be a super star one day.

NIGHTMARES

This song was an emotional rollercoaster when I was in the studio. It reminded me that I’m here for a reason and doing exactly what I should be doing. I want people to see the other sides of me that maybe they did not know existed, or that they thought I wasn’t capable of doing.

The 10-track LP is out now Dim Mak.

Tags: Dim Mak, riot ten

Categories: Music