Better late than never, right? I finally gave the 13 track Bass n Babes Vol II. Compilation a full continuous listen, and I was not disappointed. The emerging label for women and queer artists had a stellar launch year with two compilations, 74 minutes of released music from 23 artists, and a growing national audience.
Now seemed a good a time as any to celebrate their progress platforming women and queer artists, especially as they’re gearing up for a Secret Lineup Queer New Years Eve Rave in Burbank, CA that you should totally be at if you’re in the area.
I jotted down my first impression of the album, then had the opportunity to ask Abby Cooper & Lex Ackermann of Bass n Babes Records about the processes and intentions driving their efforts.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
TRACK 1: The compilation opens strong with TrebleTina’s “Spaceship to Nirvana,” a tone-setting emotional dubstep cut that features dreamy vocals, signature melodic movement, and weighty low end that makes it stand out. TrebleTina, who previously released on Mugic.us Records in October, continued her hot streak with this polished dubstep ballad. Between a catchy base riff and fluttering ear candy that makes the drums pop, this might be my personal favorite TrebleTina track yet.
TRACK 2: nomi and VIOLET’s “Free” follows, dives deeper with shifting basslines and expressive vocals that mirror the label’s mission. The track feels alive and intentional, built for both headphones and dance floors. Grabbing this one for my USB.
TRACK 3: Bass n Babes Founder Baby Kush steps in with “On A Trip,” a tune that evokes the old school dubstep sound, incorporating tasteful yours in classic wobbles arranged in a fresh new way. The inclusion of the track made me think of Baby Kush’s role as both artist and curator — it’s always impressive to see when someone can do both at a high level.
TRACK 4: TROWL’s “Oblivion Wing” feels like a ritual with owls circling overhead in the moonlit sky and wildlife in the surrounding grass. With a rhythmic baseline that flutters as much as it smoothly morphs over time — this track feels heavy and alive. We’ve had this East Coast based queer artist on our radar for a few years now, and this song shows why.
TRACK 5: “desire <3” by two girls one laptop (Kurei and Auracle) flutters with similar energy, taking the record to a deeper and more intimate place. The song drips with ear candy, heavy drums with smooth bass stabs, and an ethereal femme vocal to tie it all together. One of my favorites so far.
TRACK 6: Next up we’ve got Trinity by ETHERA. My attention is immediately grabbed by the increase in tempo compared to previous songs — this one’s Drum & Bass baby. The basslines drones at a perfect frequency that leaves space for a complex atmosphere in the background. But what makes this standout even more is the switch-up around halfway through the track, where the same bass sounds continue, but are layered underneath a new repetitious and plucked melody that’s infectiously catchy.
TRACK 7: Time for Lex Looper’s “Moment of Clarity” – after the last DNB tune I feel like there floor has dropped out from the first few songs. Anything is possible now. The breakbeats come in so crunchy and danceable, like they are holding together a relentless energy hanging on by just a thread. The “I can’t do it anymore” vocal sample before the second drop stopped me dead in my tracks. It evokes a powerful emotional moment of queer self-discovery. I will 100% be playing this in one of my sets, at some point.
TRACK 8: IIBARRA’s track “Science is Sexy” takes the vibe to halftime dnb, building off the breaks from the previous track. I’m stricken by how vocal-driven so many of these tracks have been – and this is one of the best. When this gives way to drum and bass in the second half, the drums sit in a finesse pocket, with the snares themselves almost sounding off in a melodic call and response.
TRACK 9: “Thirst TRAP” by Roses Grimoire took me by surprise – opting for an intro that’s straight out of a metal record before effortlessly shifting into a trappy sound that harkens to a bygone era. They don’t make em-like this anymore… EXCEPT THEY DO!! I’ll be clamoring to hear this one on a big rig.
TRACK 10: “CROWN” by farley. & Hersoul continues this classic trap trend, sounding like something that would tear through festivals circa 2016, or 2026… The sounds alternate between low end wobbles and persistent rhythmic stabs together keep things interesting.
TRACK 11: Sorcerist’s “tócame” is intoxicating from the jump. This takes the trap vibes of the previous two tracks and ups the ante, upping the tempo so it has a certain bounce. As the song progresses it almost gets into borderline glitch hop territory – this one is a true
TRACK 12: RHYTHM FREQ by MICROPLASTIQUE is probably the most unique ass-shaking song I’ve come across. It starts with breaks, moves to almost a jersey-club like kick/bass pattern, and moves into housy territory? I don’t even know what I’m listening to, but I like it. It’s apparently a debut release, which surprises me because its better than a lot of music I hear come out these days even from established veterans. The structure of the song itself really stands out on this one, not only keeping the energy high the entire time, but always moving forward and doing something new.
TRACK 13: aariaa’s “Can We Go Back” is the final song, and what a journey it’s been. Immediately noticed the dub siren and the UK bass inspired sound design kicking things off. The drums are extremely punchy, matching the crescendoing energy of the track. The sound design evolves and takes it beyond. It “goes hard” as the vocal sample specifically states. This is such a perfect closer for this compilation, and the echoey, entrancing outro ties the perfect bow on the album. It also happens to flow back into TrebleTina’s entry as a nice continuous loop, in case you did want to go back…
INTERVIEW
We sat down with Abby Cooper (aka Baby Kush) & Lex Ackermann (aka Lex Looper) of Bass n Babes Records to get to know more about their growing movement:
Q: Tell me about the process for putting this second compilation together. How did you pick the artists? Did the process or curation differ at all compared to Bass & Babes Vol I?
“Putting together Bass n Babes Vol II was exciting for our team because we opened up demo submissions to artists outside of our collective. For our launch with Bass n Babes Vol I, we decided to keep the circle tight and only work with artists who have previously played one of our shows. For Vol II, we expanded the submission process and reached out to artists we hadn’t worked with before, as well as invited back artists from Vol I. Some artists found us, and some we invited to submit demos.
Choosing the tracks to include is a team effort — once we receive all of the submissions, our team has a listening session where we listen to all tracks, write down notes, and decide together who we want to include. Our process is unique, because we provide feedback to artists even if the answer is no, to give them an opportunity to work on their track and re-submit for a later compilation. If it’s an idea that we like, but isn’t quite there yet, members of our collective will volunteer to mentor the artist to help them get their track sounding more polished.”
Q. How do you go about choosing the order of the tracks?
“Once we have received the finals for all of the tracks that we want to include in the compilation, we start thinking about the track order of the compilation. We choose the order of the tracks at the beginning of the mastering process. While some of the final tracks are already mastered, the ones that aren’t are mastered in-house.
We usually have a song in mind for the opening track, and from there it’s puzzling together the rest of the compilation based on vibe, genre, and BPM. As you may be able to tell, our collective has a pretty diverse sound that includes many different genres, so that is part of the challenge in fitting it all together and that is part of the fun of this process!”
Q: What message do you hope fans take away from Volume II? Where do you see Bass & Babes headed in the current Bass Music landscape?
“We hope fans take away that women and queer artists are shaping the future of bass music and that we deserve to be up on that stage just as much as anyone else! We hope to play more festival takeovers to showcase our label/collective and bring Bass n Babes to new cities to show more ravers the magical spaces that we create!”
Moment of Clarity by Lex Looper has been added to the Orb Pondering Bass Music 2026 — Mugic.us Selects Spotify Playlist