Listen — Never Say Die Vol. 7 · Mixed by SKisM
The label that built an era
Some labels close without making noise. Never Say Die Records chose to leave with a statement. No corporate press release, no year-end summary — just SKisM behind the decks, ninety minutes of selection, and one line that lands heavy: "This is the last Never Say Die mix."
Founded in 2011 by SKisM — Josh Hubbard by birth certificate, bass music architect by history — Never Say Die launched an entire generation. Zomboy, Eptic, Space Laces, Trampa, Badklaat, Habstrakt, Krimer, Midnight T. Names that didn't need a major label to shake soundsystems worldwide. Artists who defined what "bass music" meant between 2012 and 2020.
The Never Say Die Showcase series always worked as a barometer — six volumes mapping the roster's evolution from early dubstep through riddim and bass house. Vol. 7 is different. SKisM built it as two 45-minute sets — "stitched together by a shared theme of legacy" — a way to close fifteen years in a single breath.
"I wanted to revisit the classics and include the best of everything since Vol. 6 to complete the set. Knowing this would be the last one, I also tried to shout out as many artists as possible while still keeping it listenable." — SKisM
What you hear across 100 tracks
The first half hits the foundations with surgical precision. Zomboy opens early with Resurrected (2015) and Like A Bitch (2016) — tracks that used to shake entire rooms when the label was at its peak. Megalodon & Antiserum with Platinum (2013), Habstrakt on Hello (2015), Eptic with Swords & Dragons (2016), Krimer on Takeover (2016). SKisM also slots in his own Rave Review in a Dodge & Fuski remix from 2012, one of the label's earliest releases. A return to origins that cuts deep.
The second act pushes forward. Space Laces occupies a disproportionate — and deserved — presence across the set: Yoink, Cruise Control, Dominate VIP, Born Losers, Soul Crush (2025), Disco Bloodbath. Probably the most represented artist in the whole compilation. Must Die!, Trampa, Effin, Oddprophet, Subtronics & MVRDA, Ray Volpe, Kompany & Wooli, Svdden Death, Nitepunk, Moody Good, Akeos, Soltan — it reads like a near-complete encyclopedia of underground bass music. Track 100 closes it all: Flux Pavilion & The Freestylers on Cracks Begin To Show (2026). A closing choice that means something.
The "XXXX" tracks — what will never come out
What makes this mix genuinely precious is what it holds beneath the surface. A significant portion of the tracklist is masked — artists anonymised under "XXXX", unknown titles, nearly all dated 2026. These aren't placeholders: SKisM wanted to fit as many artists as possible, knowing this was the last chance. These tracks have no catalogue number, no label reference. They're not coming out.
A few fragments surface anyway: Must Die! x Akeos x Skream on LOL OK (ID RMX), Svdden Death & Subtronics on Surrender (ID RMX), Zomboy on Fallout (ID RMX), Habstrakt & Badjokes on Right Here (ID RMX). Partially confirmed identities, tracks sitting outside the official catalogue — exclusives locked forever inside ninety minutes of organised noise. This mix or nowhere, and that was always the point.
A farewell that refuses to be sad
Never Say Die Records may not be dead. But this series is finished — and SKisM didn't take half-measures leaving. Vol. 7 doesn't try to be the best mix in the series. It tries to be the most complete, the most generous, the most honest. For anyone who grew up on these sounds between 2013 and 2020, it's ninety minutes of compressed collective memory. For everyone else, it's a brutal and necessary introduction to everything that mattered in underground bass music over the last decade.
You'll revisit Zomboy — Game Time (2011), the label's very first catalogue. You'll remember the nights Eptic — Hard Knock moved entire walls. And somewhere between track 51 and track 99, you'll realise this label was already being missed — even when it was still here.
Selection · tracks not to miss