Liam ‘Lakeway’ Ralph is one of those joyously unclassifiable artists. One minute he’s slapping us with slithering, snake-like D&B on labels like Unchained, the next he’s tearing apart our souls with heavily emotional grime-inspired beats on Sweet Box, the next he’s shredding up the breaks with junglist switches on Cocobolo. And that’s just this year alone.
Lakeway’s sound is a bewitching brew that shouldn’t make sense technically. Especially when you consider the majority of fans will have first heard him on the more commercially-minded Hospital Records sub-label Med School (RIP). But when he brings it all together in a mix like this – especially with his strong love for rap, and that equally impossible to classify sound associated with Lucky Me, Hudson Mohawke and Rustie – it’s an overwhelmingly powerful experience that makes total sense.