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Music

​Notes from the Underground: Spank Rock, Astronomar, Joop Junior, Voyeur, JD Samson, Gonno

Low key, you can slip this playlist into your next DJ set and everyone will think you're a house music visionary.

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. This week's edition is so classy, you could stick the whole playlist in your DJ set and everyone would just think you're some next level house DJ. From Amsterdam, Japan, Los Angeles and London, here's this week's Notes from the Underground:

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Spank Rock ft. Amanda Blank - "Assassin" (Astronomar remix) [Bad Blood Records]

Main Course main man Astronomar has a tendency of popping up all over the place with whacked out, upfront dance tunes that are in-your-face and weird and always an adventure. His remix of Spank Rock ft. Amanda Blank's "Assassin" is a minimalist, wonky 4x4 club tune, somewhere between Dirtybird and a whisperingly subtle appropriation of Melbourne bounce.

Spank Rock is on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter
Astronomar is on Facebook // SoundCloud / Twitter

Joop Junior - "4 The B33f" [SCI+TEC]

Young Dutch tech weirdo Joop Junior follows up work on Richie Hawtin's Minus with a 3-track on SCI+TEC titled "Famous in Amsterdam." His tune "4 The B33f" mixes in some housey vibes, but keeps some of that rigid bleep-bloop tech elements and machine sounds just to keep it frisky.

Joop Junior is on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter

Voyeur - "Tonight" [Madhouse Records]

This tune from UK house duo, the lead off of their new EP on the Kerri Chandler-affiliated Madhouse, jangles with an island percussive pattern over the kick for a good minute and a half before a woman's voice states, "Tonight. Now is the time," and a life-affirmingly catchy synth riff kicks in. It's mellow and moody and sleek and has groove for days.

Voyeur is on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter

Kaki King - "Ooblek" (JD Samson remix)

JD Samson and Brooklyn-based fingertappy guitar icon Kaki King both blur the lines of conventionality with their music. The remix above, in which former Le Tigre member JD throws a vibrant, energetic house spin on what was once King's dreamy original, flexes both artists' creativity to the max and displays the transformative power of what a remix can achieve. Warning: this will make you dance your sneakers straight off your feet. Hopefully for your coworker's sake, you showered this morning.

JD Samson is on Facebook // SoundCloud // Twitter

Gonno - "Obscurant" [International Feel]

A steady build of a tune, Gonno's "Obscurant," the A-side off the Japanese producer's latest release on International Feel, is the kind of music you want playing as you depart the Earth's atmosphere towards some distant otherworldly locale. A dance tune, sure, "Obscurant" cheats influence from futurist classical compositions in its depth of tone and the way it presents the idea of "modern."

Gonno is on Facebook // SoundCloud