ELEVATD and dubstep have gone hand in hand since the duo’s Dennis Castelan and Chris Clingingsmith launched the project in 2017. In the four years—and 50-plus releases—that have followed, ELEVATD’s low end-indulging originals have landed on Subsidia, Buygore, and Bassweight Records. Castelan and Clingingsmith’s track record considered, the raucous, bass-ridden nature of their sophomore EP, The Plague Tapes Vol. 1, should come not as a surprise, but rather as an expectation.

“This EP was birthed from the extreme and sometimes pent-up emotion of the pandemic and the society that caused it, unleashed as a sonic expression of how we felt,” ELEVATD said of the follow-up to their debut EP, WAVEZ, released in February 2020.

The throttling four-tracker marries big bass breaks with show-stealing drum patterns, tempo transitions, and samples that, from start to finish, keep every second of the EP gripping. Stream The Plague Tapes Vol. 1 below.

Categories: Music