Mohan Kumar is Hautewulf, an electronic music producer/artist from Delhi. He’s dipped his into many a niche under the now quite hazy umbrella of dance music (is clowncore EDM? Is hyperpop EDM? Is new chillstep the same as old chillstep? Is Fred Again… a pop artist or a DJ?), trying his hand at metal, glitch, vaporwave and everything in between. His new song is called ‘Arcadestep’ (not yet a genre, by the way) and it’s possibly a bit heavier than some of the stuff he’s done in the past. It has a few nods to dubstep, maybe some hardstyle and bass music even. But it combines this with some interesting sounds and textures, so it’s not mindless. In fact, it’s nostalgic!

‘Arcadestep’ is obviously taken from videogame arcades. That’s where a lot of the nostalgia comes from; there’s the sound of jumping on multiple coins, some old school synths, the iconic ‘Perfect’ from Street Fighter and a familiar vocal chop. One could say the most familiar sample here is the Playstation 1 startup ‘theme’, which is the intro of the song. It’s a great sound to begin with (go Google it if you’re too young to remember), and Mohan presents it in a glitched-out form with accompanying visuals. These, then, contribute to the track’s sense of nostalgia. It’s balanced out with one of the most concussive and blown-out kick drums you’ll hear on a dance song (and many of them), a bunch of staccato drops and an overt dubstep break as the outro. The mix is a bit sharp and will possibly make you uncomfortable if you have trebly phone speakers, but ‘Aracdestep’ is a step forward overall for Hautewulf nevertheless. Good song.