Just because I haven't mentioned Moombahton for a few days...

Malenta and Azzido Da Bass, seen here doing their best to enforce a mononchrome colour palette

Yeah, I know I've been cacking on about Moombahton, but don't worry, I tend to work in waves of enthusiasm, and something else will take its place soon enough. That said, I imagine that I'll always have a part of my brain that will trigger a pavlovian grin whenever I hear that cumbia shake at 108bpm. Funnily enough, said grin was firmly fixed on my face this morning when this popped into my inbox - a Neki Stranac remix of the upcoming Malente v Azzido Da Bass single, Hunted. This an official edit, rather than a Soundcloud experiment, suggesting that the genre is moving from bootleg territory and into the mainstream, a fact borne out by Dillon Francis' Westside becoming the first proper commercial release and Dave Nada starting to get major-label remix commissions stateside. 

Now, Neki Stranac has seemingly come out of nowhere to become one of the most prolific and intriguing of the second wave of Moombahton producers - and has in short order repaired a lot of the distress caused by his fellow Serbs with the release of A Serbian Film. Stranac wilfully mixes up the sub-genres, readily flipping between the Dutch house origins and the darker Moombahcore throb, throwing in sounds from all over the shop, from Balkan folk to MIA, while also using the traditional latin cumbia feel to soften the edges.  Nice work, everyone.

Free download: Hunting (Tom Piper v Neki Stranac Moombahton mix) - Malente v Azzido Da Bass



Hunted is released on Downright Records on April 4th