deBasement live life in the fast lane with all-out dance anthem “AFTERMARKET BASS”

Imagine a lustful, confronting whisper emerging from the towering speakers of a tightly-packed nightclub. “Don’t stop baby, pump the brakes.” In a sparse moment, turning into frank incantations, “bass, bass, bass,” “pump, pump, pump,” “kick me in overdrive.” The subsequent rising bass and sirens demand you to shake your ass all night long, and don’t stop driving the liberating floor until the night calls it quits. When kicked into gear, that’s likely how deBasement’s latest revved-up track “AFTERMARKET BASS” would go.

It’s also how they’d want it to go too. deBasement is the coalescing of synth punk band Special Interest’s frontperson Alli Logout, and rocketing pop producer Margo XS, who’s worked with Zara Larsson and Kim Petras. Drawing from their individual experiences in New Orleans’ and Montreal’s after-hours nightlife, and the endless possibilities of queer dancefloors, the refreshing project is making space for club music that isn’t overdone and sanitised, but raw, debaucherous, and real.

The duo first met when they moved to LA. “We are industry plants to be honest,” they say in jest. “Our publisher [In Real Life] introduced us, and we had a great first session, and decided to start a project.” deBasement’s first song written was “FRONT LEFT SPEAKER”, a cut on their self-titled EP: an audacious throwback to trippy aughties electro house, soundtracking the chaotic debacle of being separated from your friends at the function. From there, the intensely explosive tracks and live sets at home and across Europe quickly kept on coming.

“AFTERMARKET BASS” comes ahead of “a record that expands on [their] love for bass music.” LA producer and DJ Nikki Nair enhanced the song’s adventurous sonics, the collaboration a result of Nair attending deBasement's show with Marie Davidson, and immediately connecting as mutual fans. “He is a true freak like us, he is always trying to expand and play,” deBasement rave about Nair. “His music has been a big inspiration for our production since the beginning, so it made sense to make something together.”

Perhaps the most captivating technical aspect of deBasement is their genre pollination of aggressive punk with emotive pop production, pursuits that seem worlds apart. It’s this disparity that organically compels them not to play it safe. “The sonic possibilities feel infinite when we create,” they say about their cherished collaboration. “We are constantly reworking and playing around in a way that being in a traditional instrument-based band can’t, and also exploring possibilities we normally couldn’t with the other projects we work on.” Dance music can be limitless, and deBasement prove so by rewriting the rules and breaking expectations.