SMIFF is Edinburgh-born and London-resident, and he makes the kind of bass music that takes a club apart and rebuilds it three times across one record. PRESSURE CORE, his December 2025 album on Madam X's Kaizen imprint, is the most coherent statement he has put out and one of the more underrated UK bass releases of the last twelve months. Ben UFO has been playing it. Call Super has been playing it. Rinse FM, NTS, and BBC Radio have been playing it. The streams have not yet caught up. They will.
What he is doing is fusion in the literal sense. PRESSURE CORE moves between breakbeat, techno, hard drum, Baltimore-club, and dembow without ever losing the line. "Dish Down" and "Last Buzzer" — released earlier in 2025 — gave a hint of where the album was heading. "Higher Pressure" was the proof of concept. The BANG! EP and the Beezknees EP were the workshop.
The peak-time question
The interesting thing about SMIFF is the patience with which he sequences pressure. Most producers in this register reach for the drop quickly and then cycle. SMIFF builds for thirty-two bars longer than is comfortable, then opens it. He came up playing Headset's parties, which forces a discipline most bedroom producers never develop: you have to keep a room moving without insulting it.
Why he matters
Time Out put him on a six-emerging-DJs list early. The Kaizen co-sign confirmed it. The records do the rest. UK bass is having a quiet moment of reorganisation right now and SMIFF is one of the architects you should know. Start with "Higher Pressure." Then PRESSURE CORE in full. Listen on a system.
Allastair Voss
