Here Are the Most Vital Tracks and News from the Worldwide Underground

Welcome to Notes from the Underground, THUMP's weekly premiere feature dedicated to shining a light on underground sonics from around the world. Every week, we'll start at the surface and dig deeper into the underground with each track and news story. In this week's super-mega-bumper worldwide edition, we've got everything from glitch-disco to Hamburg house, NYC techno, Dutch warehouse breakbeats, and South African beat music - and you can check them all out at this one-stop shop. Have a dig around:

Parisian ravescene grad POPOF's laid-back tune with Arno Joey is the first single from his upcoming album Love Somebody on Hot Creations. It enjoys remixes from Luciano and Marc Houle, but it's the moody, minimal take from label head Jamie Jones that'll have toes tapping and navels gazed well into the summer.

POPOF is on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter
Jamie Jones is on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter

Thanks to a reviving kick from Red Bull, leftist NYC basement rave GHE20G0TH1K returned from the grave last week for one more rager. Venus X invited the likes of Total Freedom, MA NGUZU, and Sissy Nobby to join affairs. THUMP was there.

Fool's Gold and Mad Decent-releasing Norwegian producer Funkin' Matt takes on remix duties for his countrymen in WDSTCK's tune "So Free." The result is a future house tune with a grimy bassline, vocoder vocals, and a classily mellow snare. When Tchami's dropping this one in, like, two months, you can tell him you heard it here first.

Funkin Matt is on Facebook // SoundCloud
WDSTCK is on Facebook // SoundCloud

Southern California house and techno posse Desert Hearts undertook their first east coast jaunt this past week, bringing the posse of Mikey Lion, Lee Reynolds, Deep Jesus, Marbs, and Porkchop to two sold out shows in Washington DC and New York City. Check out our story by Harrison Williams.

Gritty techno-influenced broken-beat tunage from Dutch producer De Sluwe Vos (That's Dutch for 'The Sly Fox,' by the way). He's known for stage-diving and his love of the Roland-909 and this tune is the A2 from part 3 of his Kontra album project.

De Sluwe Vos is on Facebook // SoundCloud

Frank Wiedeman of Ame and vocalist Ry X of The Acid are releasing their first album as Howling. Self-titled, emotive, and brooding, the album has enjoyed a strong reaction from the dance world when it premiered on THUMP.

Keep your Low End Theories to yourself, because there's some weird-as-fuck beat music going on in South Africa. From Black Coffee to Qgom, the underground scene there has been causing a bit of a stir recently, and after signing to the recently revamped Tommy Boy Records, Christian Tiger School look likely to step from the underground into the weirdo-dance limelight

Christian Tiger School is on Facebook // SoundCloud

Alison Wonderland performed at Garret Loft in Miami this weekend, and reports indicate that it was a mutual lovefest between the Aussie bass-dropper and her Floridian Fans. "You guys are, like, ten times better than New York," Wonderland told the crowd.

It's a Safer at Night love-in as co-founders of the NYC label come together with CRANKS on the remix of Total Fitness. The tune is a moody techno tune that's more Berghain than Brooklyn (even despite the house elements). Another on-point selection from the label as they near their 20th release.

Total Fitness is on Facebook // SoundCloud
CRANKS is on Facebook // SoundCloud

Burning Man stalwarts Robot Heart put on their first festival in the Nevada desert this past weekend, and they managed to pull of some impressive production, despite struggling with an underwhelming crowd and teething pains. Read the full recap.

Angeleno bizarro-glitch-soul-dance-pop artist Parks Burton has found a perfect home on URL-bass legend Ryan Hemsworth's Secret Songs label in the past, but he'll be releasing a split-EP titled "Gifts" with producer Kazimier on Moon Bounce's Grind Select imprint. Somewhere between Max Tundra and Jamie Lidell, his tunes have electro-disco swag and glitch for days.

Parks Burton is on Facebook // SoundCloud

If you ever feel old at the rave when surrounded by teenagers, save a thought for Detroit's Grandma Techno, who taught us that age is less important of a number than BPM.

FAKE Music have a knack for sounding out talented, young producers from the Parisian underground, but the multi-faceted Yoann Feynman is the most consistent and adventurous of the lot. His tune "Frequencies" sounds likes Boards of Canada making a Flume tune. Yeah, we bet you never thought of that before.

Yoann Feynman is on Facebook // SoundCloud

Dotorado Pro, a teenager from Setubal, has ignited the Lisbon underground with his tune "African Scream" and the world is beginning to take note. Read the full story by Kalaf Epalanga.

Just shy of the the Baltic Sea in Northern Germany is the city of Kiel, where fledgling label Empore Music's first release is from the duo Avidus. Released on May 29, their Accolade EP is a solid take on that deep, moody house sound made famous by its neighboring city of Hamburg. Empore Records releases are all available on short-run vinyl presses of 300, feature artwork from local artist Jochem Roman Schneider, and the crew's scene is centered around the nightclub Luna.

Avidus is on Facebook // SoundCloud