Batsauce is a producer originally from Jacksonville, but now residing in Berlin. Over the years, he has collaborated with artists like Qwazaar, Hellsent, Wax, and Dillon. His last solo release came in 2018, when he released a project called Nomads Almanac Vol. 1. Now he’s put together a soundtrack for our times, Shelter Skelter.

For this project, Batsauce is literally combing the soundtracks to different vintage science fiction movies that deal with pandemics. This might be a little too real and hit too close to home for some listeners, and that is totally understandable. For those of you watching Outbreak and Contagion while you’re stuck at home, this album is one hundred percent for you. When listening to this album, I can’t help but wander a few things about the sample sources, namely – how many different movie soundtracks is he sampling from? I ask this because while there is certainly a well-crafted story across the album that is outlined by key vocal samples, I just can’t help but wander how often we return to this story and what informs when we return to it. On the musical side of the album, Batsauce is sampling the scores of old sci-fi movies, which in more practical terms means that he’s building beats out of these grand, eerie, orchestral compositions. Now Batsauce is a talented veteran, so he knows how to flip these samples really well and make them his own, but he also knows how to craft the entire album in a such a way that it builds along with the narrative, creating some initial tension, than an eerie calm, building paranoia, and the a frantic climax.

Shelter Skelter might seem like it was rushed to production on paper, but Batsauce is so good at what he does, you would swear that he’s been working on this project for years. There is nothing slapdash about what he’s given us here – it’s smart, it’s well-crafted, it’s thoughtfully plotted out, and the beats are really sophisticated.