Another cloak & dagger hyped up vinyl only release, is it all getting a little tedious now? The latest up and coming bass release ‘Furrball’ allegedly on Swamp81 has been doing the rounds, naturally only a select few were aware of the release and who it was by. A recent YouTube rip suggested it was Zed Bias & Paleman, but nothing had been confirmed, until yesterday, Paleman himself confirmed via facebook that is indeed him & Zed Bias, he then went on to say “it’s not coming on swamp, hate to be annoying and secretive but that’s all I can say for now”.

It goes without saying that in recent times the desire for secrecy and vinyl only releases has been firmly embraced, particularly within the bass community as the preferred method of releasing music. Whilst for some this is no doubt a source of considerable frustration there is no denying that a little mystery, the pull of the unknown, wanting something you cant have has helped inject some renewed vigor into what has started to resemble a fast food market. However while this has been a positive force within dance culture there is a growing danger that our perception of how good a track actually is will be coloured by the hype surrounding it, the artist involved and the label its being released on.

Overall we feel the cloak & dagger method is approaching saturation, you only have to look at the comments on the YouTube clip above to see that its getting a bit thin. However this is not to say that everyone should get the promo’s, or that every release should be available digitally, but rather labels should consider being more forthcoming with the release details and where to buy it, and then use the vinyl only format to protect the music from instant over saturation. We believe the vinyl only approach in certain instances has been a good development as it makes those signature sounds that bit more special when spun by your favourite DJ producers.

Having said all of this we should clarify that we thoroughly recommend seeking out this track, bit of a heater.