Introducing MAKESHFT: Denver newcomer shares budding mid-tempo production, ‘Self Aware’

Here at Conscious Electronic, we love all things bass — breakbeat, downtempo, left-field, experimental, dubstep in all its forms, you name it. As the underground bass movement has begun its full ascendancy in the US, we’ve been keeping a finger on the pulse of up-and-coming bass artists the country over. As such, CE‘s Rising Bass Spotlight seeks to turn a focus onto those rising producers who’re developing their craft, garnering their audiences, and turning eyes, ears, heads, and bodies with their commitment to all things low end.

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Hailing from Denver, MAKESHFT is a re-brand of a previous project from Tevin Dominguez, whose past productions drew on influences from 80s synth wave electronica. He’s transferring those roots into a modern genre he’s dubbed “cyberwave,” which incorporates robotic sounds, movie quotes from that era, and Stranger Things-adjacent melodic synths into mid-tempo baselines. Now the self-taught producer has shared a budding track, entitled “Self-Aware,” to further define his style.

“‘Self Aware’ represents all the crazy obstacles that I’ve overcome to be where I am today musically,” MAKESHFT told us. “My music really takes a page out of the 80’s taking influences from Terminator, Robocop, and BladeRunner.”

The track draws up associations with a new age AI theme where digital lifeforms have become conscious and sentient. With an intro that calls on Daft Punk’s TRON-era aesthetic, the entire lead up to the first drop is entirely nostalgic and every bit as foreboding. After an intentional drop-pause, MAKESHFT then dips into a glaring midtempo progression that sits somewhere along the sound spectrums of REZZ and 1788-L, except not as dark and not as heavy. Still, it’s a sound that is every bit his own. “Self-Aware” is so expansive — and so entirely cinematic — that one could see MAKESHFT producing movie soundtracks one day, which he says is a dream of his.