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Music

AC Slater and TT The Artist "Squeak It Up" on Exuberant New Single

The track will see release on Slater's forthcoming 'Bass Inside' EP on Skrillex's OWSLA imprint.
Photo courtesy of the artist

Bass-inclined Los Angeles producer, AC Slater, has linked up with TT The Artist to share "Squeak It Up," an sultry new track off his forthcoming Bass Inside EP on Skrillex's OWSLA imprint. Pairing the kind of hi-def, scintillating house chords that wouldn't sound out of place on a Butterz release with a fizzing bass backbone, Slater sets the stage for TT to jump in and purposefully yet playfully take control.

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"TT's been working with a lot of different producers lately and just killing it," said Slater to THUMP via email. "I reached out because I thought she would fit perfectly on it. She sent back the vocals and they were fire! Chopped them up a little and finished the song. It was really that simple."

For the occasion of the premiere, Slater was kind enough to tell us about his three main goals as a producer, what it's been like trying to bring UK sounds to North America with his Night Bass label/party, and what works about his relationship with OWSLA.

Bass Inside will be out tomorrow, May 26, on OWSLA.

THUMP: What can you tell us about the Bass Inside EP? Was there anything specific you were focusing on or thinking about while putting it together?
AC Slater:With every release I have three goals that I try to implement throughout the EP. I try to progress my sound forward and try to make something unique, original, fresh and exciting. All my music has to work on the dance floor and pay some kind of homage to my past influences. Bass Inside is pure experimentation for me: the sound selection, the mood, the space, but still totally for the club. "Flacid" is me and Lorenzo just having fun in the studio making a super clean dance floor smasher with that big analog bass. "Squeak It Up" is a nod to the old sound of "fidget" house made popular by Switch, Jesse Rose, Sinden, etc.

In the SoundCloud description for Night Bass, you write that it's your mission to "expose North America to strongly under-represented genres" like UK garage, bassline, and grime. How would you say that project has gone so far?
It's been going amazingly! When I started throwing the events no one in America had any clue what I was doing, what the music was, or who any of the artists I was booking were. Now over 2 years later you are hearing it everywhere. Hopefully we had a part in making that happen. This isn't a fad or sound of the moment to me, this is the music I've loved since day one. Night Bass was years in the making, it is the result of me finally realizing what I need to do and giving it a name.

This marks your second release for OWSLA, following last year's Take The Night EP. What has made your partnership successful?
OWSLA is a creatively open-minded and collaborative label with a long-term view. I've known Skrillex and a handful of others in the OWSLA camp for quite a few years so I felt comfortable getting involved. I think my signature sound fits well into the wide spectrum of everything else that lives on OWSLA. There's a nice open dialogue about ideas and direction when it comes to releases, they care about the quality and presentation of the material. It just feels natural.

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