CGMan is one of those names you hear on the wind. One of Audiotool's legends hidden in plain sight, or at least that's what I thought until recently. In any case, drum and bass has always been a favorite of mine, so this should be fun. This is my deep dive into the world of Audiotool's resident jump up neurofunk titan.
Ømega
Once, I went with a couple friends to a rave in a storm drain, with a few different "tunnels" separated by a foot of concrete. One of the stages was playing DnB for at minimum 6 hours, and everyone who came out of there was sweating from all the movement. This track reminds me of that night. It's classic drum grooves, it's classic jump up wobbles, it's classic DnB. This thing knows exactly what it is and it's good at it. [[embed:https://www.audiotool.com/track/mega-uyzhu/]]
Electrission
Jumping ahead from 2012 to 2023, CGMan is still killing it: this track MOVES. The main bass sound is mesmerizing and meshes well with the phone samples, creating that anxious energy that gets people moving. I could almost hear the MC on top of it, conducting the crowd. Personally I would be spinning in circles. [[embed:https://www.audiotool.com/track/lx3dwnebxni/]]
Rhythm Ritual
...But with this track, I'm just shaking. Stepping away from drum and bass, it's a track designed to lose you, and yet it works so well. The ping pong drums bounce around me like dancing lightning. The progression here is sporadic, demanding your attention for its entire run and still keeping the flowline through the disorienting space it's created. Stellar track. [[embed:https://www.audiotool.com/track/rhythm_ritual/]]
Cel
This one feels like I'm wandering a city skyline in a dream, bouncing between rooftops. Even up here the energy is still anxious, the acid baseline riffs driving me along on whatever path I can find, as long as it moves forward. I'm being chased, but I'm the one setting the pace for the pursuers. If you couldn't tell, the whole thing reminds me of Mirror's Edge, which I will be playing immediately after writing this. [[embed:https://www.audiotool.com/track/cel/]]
Audiotool is a place with a lot of people, a lot of music, and a lot of history. I hope you'll join me in exploring something new. Okay. Love <3
What is TINYGAIN?: Connect >> Chitchat >> TINYGAIN: an Audiotool Magazine
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As it is with many artists on here, he sparked my interest in dnb the way a pen sparked my interest in melodic dubstep. CGMan is a heavyweight. I had never heard basses like that before I discovered him. The sound design is insane and the way he structures the absolute chaos of some of these sounds is, to me, almost intangible. It's like you're put into a washing-machine-esque drum and spun around for an hour, but cgman seems to be able to walk in a straight line even after that. Or at least an organised, logical one. I really owe this producer a lot.
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CGMan has long been a favourite of mine. Love to see him getting this highlight.
Only thing I'd pick at; he doesn't make Jump Up, but Neurofunk.
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the man the myth the cg
tha legend