Track Review: Agatka Iskra- #001 NASTY CLUB BEATS

“What’s next in music is first on SoundCloud,” the platform proclaims; sometimes that first is a somehow pitchy mumble rap set over an ‘experimental’ drum mix. But, sometimes, you find something interesting and innovative.

Agatka Iskra’s #001 NASTY CLUB BEATS reads as a typical SoundCloud track; tagged #Sadly EDM with comments proclaiming “this is so qont[sic],” the branding of the song leans into the internet aesthetic of the platform. However, beneath the surface, this is a complex reworking of Kill the Noise and Feed Me’s 2015 dubstep hit, “I Do Coke.” 

The song itself is a satire of party culture: the monotone, repetitive mantra of “I do coke / so I can work longer, / so I can earn more, / so I can do more coke,” echoes throughout the track’s heavy, distorted synths in a robotic fashion. It’s emblematic of the end of the 2010s EDM domination: tired of the electronic parties, the world turned to Adele’s “25.” A decade later, electronic music is back in vogue, this time with a definite emphasis on the partying (should we do a little key, should we have a little line?) 

Iskra’s remix updates the original: trading in the dark, melodic dubstep of 2015 for the bit-crushed vocals and heavily processed saw wave synths of 2025. The robotic monotony of the original vocal sample is now cranked into overdrive, distorted into a metallic texture that ornaments the other percussive elements in a pounding topline. The warped supersaws reimagine the weighty dubstep groove in favor of a four-on-the-floor complextro cacophony all while staying within the staccato punctuations of silence. It’s also sped up, as all things are nowadays. 

But the formula works; Iskra’s remix is not a lazy verse slapped onto the end of a song, but one that transforms the original song to a different genre, a different time. It’s not a perfect translation of the original, there is some sarcasm lost in the updated structure which cheapens the message to be maybe a little too in support of cocaine. However, it is an intelligent take on electronic music past and present on a platform that does not receive its flowers too often.

-DJ matt2matt aka Matthew Genchev