Frequency Of the Week No. 3: Snails

–Written by Kevin Madert

In electronic music, emerging artists are often content with piggybacking onto whatever happens to be the flavor of the week (I’m looking at you, every big room house producer ever). It’s easy to play it safe by downloading familiar sample packs and mimicking popular song structures, especially when you know it works. There’s no risk and no reason you should be lauded. I could rewrite “The Sun Also Rises,” add a few details and throw in a Pryda snare, but that doesn’t put me in the same conversation as Hemingway.

That’s why hearing an artist like Snails is more refreshing than sipping on a chilled Gatorade in the middle of the Sahara. The Montreal-based producer – real name Frédérik Durand – is breathing new life into bass music with a keen ear for sound design and a no-holds barred approach to his craft. On the circuit for less than two years, Snails is already producing and performing like a seasoned veteran. He’s a wizard in the studio – where he’s made tunes with the likes of Antiserum, Botnek, and Etc! Etc! – and a tightly wound ball of pure energy in a live setting.

You can chalk much of that up to fearlessness. While many producers seem to look at the construction of a new track as a paint-by-numbers exercise, Snails is clearly eager to push past the boundaries defined by others before him. He’ll utilize a clean, simple house build on a tune like “RUBBR,” then throw you off the edge with a stabbing set of basslines so crunchy you’ll swear you can taste them. His tunes eschew genres or hybridize them until they can’t be separated – “Bubble Gun” is just as much dubstep as it is trap, and “Shockwave” is future bass meets emotive electro-house meets whatever the hell is going on with that xylophonic reptilian drop.

With the breadth and depth of his music, it’s no surprise that fellow artists have already taken notice. For some time his music has been released on Kannibalen, the label founded by fellow genre-benders Black Tiger Sex Machine – who also co-produced the aforementioned “Shockwave.” He’s also collaborated with labelmates Kai Wachi and Apashe, and has upcoming tracks with Dillon Francis and HeRobust – the latter, “Pump This,” is scheduled for release on August 19. Meanwhile, everyone from Diplo to Skrillex is singing his praises and wowing crowds with his tunes.

Beholden to nothing and no one, Snails is a fully-loaded eighteen wheeler with a cinderblock glued to the gas pedal. His lack of any pretenses is what allows him to create with such uniqueness and eclecticism. He’s not afraid to fail because he’s not comparing himself to his predecessors or his peers. It’s as if he’s penning music in a vacuum, then unleashing it on the world and letting everyone else make sense of it. As long as he continues to release thrillingly original songs that refuse to pander or compromise, Snails has nowhere to go but up.

Check out a few of Snails’ tunes below, grab copies for yourself on Beatport, and connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.