Blossom Hill 'Home Colours Remix EP’ (Loose Fit Records)
On last year’s ‘Home Colours’, UK-born, Berlin-based producer Blossom Hill showcased an instinctive knack for creating shiny, rapturous music that feels simultaneously energetic and meaningful — utilising complex, sometimes clashing percussion alongside emotionally-tinged synths to elicit peak-time tears. So for the remix EP - which landed on Loose Fit this month - Blossom Hill enlists the help of Facta, Pépe, Debba and Kin Teal to each expand upon the original record’s poignant soundscape. On ‘Darkest Hour’ Wisdom Teeth boss Facta packs in a punch, with a raucous electro-tinged bassline and chopped kicks — while on ‘Loading…’ Valencian producer Pépe lures us into a sense of serene calm in the opening moments, before dishing out hard-edged breaks and bleeps and bloops. Budapest’s Kin Teal weaves his trademark machine textures between buoyant drums on ‘Entropy’ before descending into a soul-affirming breakdown around the centre — while London’s Debba bleeds through tantalising hats and heart-pumping bass.
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Boy in Nature 'DW-07’ (HARDLINE)
Whether you’re planning to work up a sweat in the gym or on the dancefloor this January, Boy in Nature has you covered. On the latest instalment of HARDLINE’s ‘Drum Workout’ series, the Perth-based producer puts tempo at the fore – with four tracks designed to keep your heart rate high and your gun fingers locked and loaded. Agitated kicks boom below searing hats on the techno-inclined ‘Late Notice’, while ‘Multicoloured’ and ‘Lapis’ employ rapid-fire bass with a smattering of bubbling, eerie synth. ‘Volant’ combines deep melody with a breakdown so naughty it would have the Circoloco Terrace crowd blushing. Proper dance music.
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Young Franco 'it’s Frankie baby!' (Island Records)
You’d be forgiven for thinking the debut album from Melbourne-based party starter Young Franco would be a personal affair; but despite its title, ‘it’s Frankie baby!’ encapsulates more of a mood than a person. Across 10-tracks, Franco transverses house, bass, Italo and pop with help from an eye-watering array of features including Denzel Curry, General Levy, EARTHGANG, p-rallel, Kah-Lo and many more. While form and tempo can vary greatly throughout the record - such as the low-end seduction of ‘Lose Control’ and the buoyant beat of Moloko reimagining ‘Sing it Back’ - everything is tied together by a vibrant energy that comes from Franco’s ability to dish out fine-tuned, innovative production that remains undeniably danceable.
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Mossambi ‘Time To Quit Music’ (All Centre)
Mossambi is the latest artist to appear on All Centre with his playful take on hyperpop and bass, ‘Time To Quit Music’. Across four tracks, this EP expands and contracts with huge warbling club cuts and more low-key percussive numbers, often indulgent in their use of morphed synth lines and pitched-up, autotuned vocals.
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Eev Frances ‘Sometimes I Forget To Breathe’ (self-released)
Philadelphia’s Eev Frances gives the abstract a go on her latest record, ‘Sometimes I Forget To Breathe’ – a seven-track EP rolling through IDM, dub techno, and glitch. This one is a spectacular self-released offering showcasing a fleeting switch-up of styles across plenty of on-point tracks, some with mutant beats, others with glorious, acid-inspired basslines, held together by a common thread of experimentation.
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horsegiirL ‘v.i.p. - very important pony’ (Three Six Zero)
Maned DJ-producer-vocalist horsegiirL peruses the high-octane on her latest EP, ‘v.i.p. - very important pony’. From the jittering breaks and eventual hard dance breakdown on ‘take it offff’ to the distinctive Eurodance stylings on ‘giirL math’, this release is packed with fun, adventurous, maximalist moments, plenty of happy hardcore, and a few neigh samples along the way.
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Central Cee ‘Can't Rush Greatness’ (Columbia)
Alright! Central Cee has become one of the most talked about listened-to rappers in the UK, so news of his debut studio album would easily sweep the nation and evidently the charts. Locked and loaded with hits from ‘GBP’ featuring 21 Savage to ‘Ten’ featuring grime heavyweight Skepta, the album fuses drill influence with mainstream appeal, moulding a project that is the dream for any Cench fan. And of course, this album wouldn’t be greatness without ‘BAND4BAND’.
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FKA twigs ‘Eusexua’ (Young)
If you haven’t already heard FKA twigs describe what ‘Eusexua’ means, according to her it is “the pinnacle of human experience”. Now, this might be a bit of a stretch for what the album delivers but this techno-inspired project was born from twigs venturing into the underground raves of Prague. Calling in longtime collaborator Koreless, the album reveals a more industrial sound to twigs, with cuts like ‘Drums of Death’ pranging and fluttering so violently you wouldn’t hear them anywhere else but the club.
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Ela Minus ‘DÍA’ (Domino)
Ela Minus digs out a spectrum of emotions and sounds with her latest album ‘DÍA’. A project that will transport you to a new realm, the Colombian producer has shared her inner thoughts and feelings lyrically and musically. Tracing back to a mixture of unhappy and joyous memories, track by track ‘DÍA’ is a guide through her past, yet also welcomes whatever the future has to bring. Minus encourages listeners to: “listen to this album in its entirety, without pauses and more than once. The first listen should be alone. Then with company. It's an album of ascent, of trying to grasp the darkness to find a way through and strength to keep going.”
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Rose Gray ‘Louder, Please’ (Play It Again Sam)
“It’s classic pop with its roots firmly in the underground” - this is how East London’s Rose Gray neatly summarises her latest album ‘Louder, Please’. And with input from scene stalwarts like Sega Bodega and electronic producer Uffie, the Walthamstow popstar’s second LP puts her club-kid credentials front and centre. Gray dexterously traverses dancefloor-friendly genres, stopping off in crowd-pleasey territory with the breezy synth-pop track ‘Free’ and earworm ‘Switch’ but delving deeper to touch on far more intriguing sonics with nods to house and techno in ‘Damn’ and ‘Everything Changes (But I Won’t)’. Mostly though, this glossy dance-pop album sparkles with the hedonistic optimism last seen in the ‘90s and early noughties - those halcyon days when Thursday, Friday and Saturday meant no sleep. bus. club. another club. another club! Compliments to Gray for taking us back.
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Moonchild Sanelly ‘Full Moon’ (Transgressive Records)
There’s something seriously refreshing about Moonchild Sanelly’s defiant ‘don’t give a fuck-ery’. Nothing better summarises this artist’s charm than the euphoric ‘Do My Dance’ from her latest album ‘Full Moon’, in which she gleefully singsongs the cheeky playground taunt: “I don’t want no head in my house, I just want it in between my legs and between my thighs,” over a skittering trap rhythm and blaring synths. With her third LP, the unstoppable South-African star bounds back on to the scene with an album that dazzles with its audaciousness and infectious energy. An artist who’s as bold and playful as her bright blue hair, Sanelly triumphantly returns to the innovative sound she’s deemed “future ghetto funk” taking her self-expression to new levels, submerging sensitivities and asides alike in joyous, effervescent noise. Reflecting on the album she said: “My music is about the body and liberation. No one can make it okay for you to feel like you don’t love yourself.”
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Jonus Eric ‘Diode’ (Diagonal)
The sparkling second EP from Aussie DJ Jonus Eric sees the up-and-comer showcasing his evocative, retro-futuristic take on electro. Out five years since his debut project, on ‘Diode’ Eric zooms deep into the cosmos, weaving acid house, Kraftwerkian synth-pop, industrial and techno sounds through six eclectic tracks. It’s a record abundant with signs of extraterrestrial life, experimental flourishes and dense textures, where squelchy alien-like basslines and cyborg-esque synths transport the listener up into the darkest corner of deep-space for a disco. Eric, having recently appeared on Gerd Janson’s ‘Running Back’ label with his brain-tickling intelligent techno track ‘Ribbon’, shows insane amounts of promise. He’s clearly bursting with creativity that’ll take him to stratospheric heights.
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Liquid Earth ‘Adventures Of Handy Boy’ (9FINITY)
Liquid Earth travels from Latin house rollers to tech-house pump via moody electro and sweltering groovers on this gem of an EP for 9FINITY. Designed to get the dancefloor vibes hot and heavy, with a cheeky title to set the mood.
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SHALT ‘Mistral’ (Nostro Hood System)
Inspired by meteorology and druidry, SHALT spins a mythical science blend into four sizzling tracks for Nostro Hood System. Opener ‘Screen To Skin’ is stuttering and unstable while coming through with low-end heft; ‘FC Kahuna’ brings back the jerky funk of old skool electro; ‘Sludge Puppy’ is potent blend of rhythmic workout and bass caverns; while the title-track brings the EP to a shimmering climax.
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Champa B & Tim Reaper ‘Pandemonium’ (Future Retro London)
After many years of years of trying, Tim Reaper has secured a Champa B release for Future Retro London, linking up on a joint release featuring two collab tracks and a solo track from each. Reaper has drawn Champa back into an early ’90s darkcore tip, with pneumatic breaks underlaying sinister samples and time-stretching on this eldritch EP.
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