Top EPs April 2021

You can almost smell the portaloos now. You can almost taste the lukewarm can of Red Stripe and the warm fuzzy feeling of just being able to let loose for a night, let alone a weekend.

But steady on, it’s April, and you’re not technically allowed to hug anyone outside your bio bubble yet. Mercifully you can still deprive yourself of sleep, stand near your nearest sewage treatment works, close your eyes and give some of these tunes a swirl to replicate the closest thing to the final day of the perfect weekend.

Eversines – Companionship

After closing out one of the best compilation albums of the year with Paerels II, Eversines returns to Nous’klaer Audio to deliver the kind of shimmering progressive house that’s the sonic equivalent of tin foiling your kitchen.

The title track floats serenely on by, before you dive into the deep space odyssey that is Disappear. Slippery little acid lines, a hard hitting kick and lush pads combine for what is, to us, the highlight of the EP. On the flip it’s more precise, delicately mixed and layered cuts, finishing with the immaculately bleepy Waveformer.

Overmono – Pieces of Eight/Echo Rush

Overmono’s love affair with XL recordings, a hazy, happy marriage that has given us numerous classics, not to mention what could easily be the EP of 2020 with Everything U Need, continues with the little treasure chest that is Pieces of Eight and Echo Rush.

The A-side flits along nicely with that now unmistakeable warm hum of emotionally charged bass and frantically looped vocals, whilst the B takes us on one of those head back, eyes-closed moments that only blissful, spaced out techno like this can – on the bonce again from the pair.

Yosh – The Hype EP

Two-stepping its way with cap down into the already murky world of Holding Hands, Yosh delivers the labels first of its new ‘Submerged’ series with The Hype. With a string of sloppers already in the wake of Desert Sound Colony’s chugboat, opening an avenue for even more bass heavy, even darker, even dubbier music might seem unnecessary.

Honestly, don’t care. If it means more of this stuff, more dingy low end fun and more wriggling junglist touches than you can shake a stick at. The entire EP is irresistible, an ode to sweat drenched t-shirts and warm alcohol. You know that moment when you’re standing in the smoking area, and you hear something happening that draws you back inside like a moth to the lasers? It’s like that.

Kamus – Kult

Glasgow’s Kamus bursts onto Or:la’s Berlin label, Céad, with a humble offering of some of the darkest and dingiest, and most addictive tunes that you’re going to enjoy all year. Drawing on techno and dubstep, some genuinely interesting sampling like the Middle-Eastern influenced strings leading into the swampy drums and effects on EP highlight Wallace, keeps the listener’s ears strung along for the ride with an almost Djrum-like level of proficiency.

Nikki Nair delivers a low-end driven remix of the title track, and absolutely nails it. One to watch out for in the more far-flung basements of the world, it’s almost 6 minutes of noggin-wobbling heat that is guaranteed to send dance floors into a frenzy again, and again.

Forest Drive West – Dualism EP

Emerging with Prince of Denmark-esque malevolence from the studio of Forest Drive West, Dualism represents some of his most complete, and most accomplished, dub-techno to date. We start with the titular track, which oozes and drips its way through cavernous spaces carved out huge claps and metallic toms, before we drift into the eight and a half minute float-fest that is New Day.

The trip continues as you turn over, Ritual pittering and pattering through hissing soundscapes, and Scorpion drawing on percussionist Lucky Pereira to add an organic, feverish edge, perfectly complementing the FDW atmosphere for your eternal indulgence.

Laurence Guy – Mutual Excitement is a Wonderful Thing

If any record this month has encapsulated the excitement and doubt of a nation, and transported minds to scenes of sun-dappled forests and golden-washed evenings, as well as another evening in hesitantly flicking through festival line ups, it’s the undeniably true Mutual Excitement is a Wonderful Thing.

Written during lockdown, the opening track is a direct window into hazy memories of long afternoons and evenings of pure summer fun, and whilst the following offerings feel far more restrained and a little more melancholy, there’s still a hopefulness shining through all this housey goodness through gentle piano notes that carry the main message of the EP – the good times will come again.

Chaos in the CBD – Te Puke Thunder

The lads from New Zealand get deep and downright hypnotic on their latest EP, named after a long lost marijuana strain. Whether this is a set of tracks dedicated purely to hunting down an elusive pot plant, I guess we’ll never know, but all that matters is that this is Chaos in the CBD at their best.

Lush pads and rolling percussion sequences lull the listener into the hazy tunnel to smoke-soaked contentment. They even dip a cautious toe into dub techno territory, which works beautifully on the title track with its swelling chords, glitchy, underwater details – a pleasure trip from the most sunken depths of the sofa.

Alec Falconer – Turbo Faff EP

From the Ba Dum Tish universe Alec Falconer has curated during lockdown 2022 (because, why not?), come highly unpretentious, straight-up fun house tunes hit that sweet spot in the afternoon just as the sun is going down and the level of dancing gets just a bit looser.

Anna Notherthing is a right earworm that’ll have your amygdala a-bopping whenever it recalls those organic drum sounds and the groovy little melody, and the light-hearted theme continues with They Buy Axe on the flip. Top it off with the highlight of the EP and you’ve got yourself a no-brainer instant buy – lovely stuff all round. 

Same Interface – Going In/Shadows

Something a bit no nonsense from R&S Records alumni Sam Interface, and a little single that is anything but little. On big speakers, you’re going to have to watch the low end on this one, as the man with a penchant for blowing subwoofers returns with the nonsensical Going In, which intersperses the moments of bass and frantic percussion with moments that feel genuinely like being in the smoking area.

On the B-side, things are a little bouncier and the high-end gets a little more involved, but it’s still a slice of irresistible wonk that UK bass of the highest quality can be. If anyone is ready for the clubs, it looks like Sam Interface is.

DJ Life – Ambedo EP

Look who’s back on this list! Prolific work from DJ Life, who follows up last month’s Accelerator EP with a 4-tracker (and a digital bonus for those inclined) of housey trance anthems on SITU Records. We kick off with the little groover that is Proton, that just happily hops along and gets us in the right headspace for having it fall off when the trippy Ride lands.

As you turn over you’re confronted with Skeletal, one of those tracks that just slaps a smile across your face with its addictive rhythms, scratchy effects and spooky little melodies. Finish with the moody groove of Wormhole, and DJ Life has forced his way back on the top EPs list.

Adrianho – Walking Out Of The Ordinary EP

Previews released with pretty much zero fuss on Hibit Records via SoundCloud, the latest release from the New York based label keeps up the trend of releasing minimal, dreamy house cuts as they bring Adrianho into the fold.

Regardless Of Where I Am In Life sets the tone beautifully with lush strings and pads and echoing vocals all washing over a funky little arrangement of percussion and dub, whilst Vern’s remix on the B strips it back a little to focus more on the foot tapping grooves. Never Underestimate The Power Of Will, another funk-focused number with powerful synth swells adding a certain drama to the whole occasion, rounds it off – Hibit just need to tell us where we can buy it now…