5ifty$ix K (aka StrangeFlow, aka The Guy Who Made This Site) is releasing a new ep today, ‘Brain Drain.’ Resurrecting the sounds of old jungle breakbeats, and fusing them with the start-stop retro drum machine sounds of Chicago juke and footwork, this 5 track (4 plus a secret bonus track) is a lot of fun, and extremely forward thinking. 5ifty, along with other footwork jungle producers like him, such as KidLogic, Kid Lib, Wellbelove, Calculon, Dr J!nx, and others; is helping to map out the territory for this new style of electronic music.

“That’s one of the most exciting things about footwork jungle right now,” says 5ifty$ix, “there’s so much uncharted land that’s being uncovered now, everyone’s going into it with their own take on it. Every new album or even new track has the potential to dig up a whole new musical space that can be worked on in the future. I’m hoping my style on this album helps with that process, and I hope people enjoy it, it’s also a lot bass-heavier than my last album.”

The last album he did was under the moniker of StrangeFlow. Why the direction change?

“Well, I remember thinking that, for years, jungle was a lot of fun, but a lot of it got kind of stale after awhile, and I lost some interest. Even some of the breakcore stuff seemed to get old after awhile, like some of the artists didn’t care as much… I still loved the basic sound of drum n bass and jungle, but a lot of what was comin’ out wasn’t killin’ me. Around a year or so ago I started listening to footwork and juke a little bit, and then discovered there were some folks putting it with jungle, like Om Unit, and that inspired me like nothing else has in a long time! I’d been thinking for some time that something needed to come around, some new style or slant on jungle / dnb to give it some new life again, and this, in my opinion, is DEFINITELY it.”

“So, I decided I wanted to try working with this really fun new template, a lot of it’s basically unwritten and waiting for precedent. I like how the footwork rhythm cuts the jungle up a bit, but if you tweak it right, you can get both sounds to work together in a completely new strain of music altogether,” the musician went on, adding, “…So, since I wanted to be a part of this, I figured it was time for a name change, as well – I’d been using StrangeFlow since… 2006 or 2007, and it started out as an MC name, actually.. I used that name for glitch hop, funk, hip hop, and I had a lot of fun with it, and there’s a good chance I’ll go back and make some more StrangeFlow trax, but for the time being, I wanted to just say ‘fuck it,’ and try to move into a wholly new set of directions. I’m probably gonna keep using that speaker-headed dude though, cuz that shit’s fun! Ha.”

You can get the entire album for “pay what you want” (free plus) @ Dynasty Shit.com

Track listing is as follows:

1. Brain Drain 04:53
2. Tornado Rave 03:52
3. Stuck Inside the Stereo 03:27
4. Cuz I’m Countin Money 03:40
5. (bonus track) Bam! Bustin! 01:59