Premiere: Quartz ‘Russian Roulette’

Quartz returns to Rupture London this week with the heavyweight ‘Lucid’ EP. Have an exclusive first listen to the opening track, ‘Russian Roulette’, below.

The Cardiff-based drum & bass mainstay showcases his versatility across four tracks, which have come together slowly since lockdown. 

There’s the industrial rumble of the title track, hypnotic roller ‘Runtime’ with French producer War, and the head-twisting robotic funk of ‘Do It’, which Quartz told DJ Mag is “definitely one of the most technically complicated, time-consuming pieces I’ve ever made”. 

Our pick is ‘Russian Roulette’, a thundering halftime cut packed with swirling bongos, and boasting a truly face-melting intro.

“I’ve got this fascination with finding the chord that exists in the natural overtones of a bongo loop,” Quartz said of how the track came together. “Every bongo has these little resonances that shape its sound, and I like building chords around them. That’s how ‘Russian Roulette’ started. Then I went all in on that epic intro — just for the shock value — because it genuinely caught me off guard in the studio.”

The EP follows 2022’s ‘Hydra’ EP for Double O and Mantra’s revered jungle outlet, along with more recent efforts for Metalheadz and V.I.V.E.K.’s dubstep institution System Music, amongst others.

The ‘Lucid’ EP is out 14th February via Rupture London. Pre-order a copy here and listen to ‘Russian Roulette’ exclusively below.