Top EPs March 2021

There’s that unmistakable hint of summer creeping into the air now. The sun’s out, the pubs are open, and bank accounts have been rinsed by pure optimism for the future.

And to accompany that first whiff of summer, we’ve had a little dig through some of the best EPs we’ve come across in March – tunes for the beer garden and hopefully, soon, the club.

Peyote Dreams – State of Mind (Slack Mix)

When the original came out in 1993, it was remixed the following year by Quinn Whalley (once part of Paranoid London) and Justin Drake. The result is a hypnotic roll through bouncy pads and echoing toms, and a slap-you-in-the-face synth line that euphorically buries the earworm into your brain, where it’ll be hooked until the next listen.

Roza Terenzi submerges everything in thick, black treacle, bringing to the table a sludgy, downtempo remix of the remix, whilst Alex Kassian goes the other way, burnishing the track in chrome and sending it into space with a hypnotic, tribal groove and sharp, precise rhythms.

DJ Life – Accelerator EP

DJ Life returns to Echocentric records armed with a throaty techno title track, but it’s all about remix by Rudolf C, as the Berlin based producer delivers his own cut that belongs firmly in a strobed out mess of a crowd. One for peak time, it rolls along nicely thanks to frantic bleepy features and deep grooves, all of the highest order.

On the B-sided we open with Exaltic, a trippy hook and groovy bassline massaging hamstrings by the dozen into a low-slung groove, before Pat brings it all to a close with an electro trip to a dark brick basement about 12 Red Stripe deep, probably somewhere in Melbourne.

Guy Contact – COY003

What an EP this is. Coymix have begun life with some gorgeous EPs from Biodive and Dylan Forbes , and they’re doing it again with their third instalment that comes curtesy of another Aussie, Guy Contact.

On the A-side expect a pair of progressive house cuts you’d expect to hear on the turntables of Weatherall or Willikens. Irresistibly groovy and immaculately mixed, heavenly effects and chord swells are layered over slowly bumping kicks, all to highly danceable effect. You’ll find a little more of the same on the flip with Sounds from the Echosystem, which also drops hints for the dramatic finale with echoing it’s trance vocals and spacey melodies.

Cool Blue Liquid – Maximus Mix is the genuine highlight, one that’s already been used on sets like this TEST FM mix by Maruwa, and one that’s going to find itself rinsed to death over the summer thanks to the addictive melody and unbelievable breakdowns.

Son of Philip – Play Monotonous

Ah, is it good to see Lukas Wigflex’s label come out with some new music. After a year of cancelled events, including the cancellation of the sophomore Wigflex City festival, we’re teased back into the party atmosphere with their first release in eight years.

Son of Philip offers up the fitting return and revitalisation of the label – Fast City managing to get the pulse racing without a kick in site, Rubber Stamp upping the tension with minimal loops and synths. Play Monotonous is an education in captivating a listener and drawing them along a little sonic journey they don’t even notice they’re on. It’s the walk home as the sun is rising, the night before still ringing in your ears. And the remix by some guy called Actress isn’t bad either.

ItaloJohnson – ITJ14

Some simple, hefty 4/4 goodness for you now. The ItaloJohnson trio skip the 13th instalment of their EP series, and if ITJ14 is anything to go by, they were right to be superstitious.

Booming drums on the opener provide the sheath for slick vocals on the first track, before another brain wobbling techno number with some wonky synths comes rolling into the mix as you turn over. Finishing with slippy little acid lines weaving in and out of the ubiquitous ItaloJohnson drums, head back down to the basement because you know the drill when these three release an EP now – listen, groove, repeat.

Walton – Unknown Territories

Barely scraping into the EP category, Walton serves up a 6-track white label on Ilian Tape – his third with the now pretty legendary label. We kick off with some ambience, bird sounds, gentle synths, all of which very much helps to create a mini-album feel. Wings continues in the same vast soundscape vein, with just a few hints of the low-end madness to come.

The next three tracks are made up of the sort of stuff that leaves you feeling like you need a shower after listening. A hectic stop-start workout in the shape of Dread II gives way to the chair throwing two-stepper of Rewind Riddim and the aptly named Overload Destruction. After all that heaviness, the title track returns to Walton’s weightless sound design experiment – Skee Mask eat your heart out.

Evigt Mörker – Enande måne

Strap yourself in for the emotional dub techno train. Evigt Mörker returns to Northern Electronics for his first release since the full-length Krona, with four tracks of spellbindingly good techno. Dipping into the warm bath of the title track with floating vocals and a nice, downtempo kick, Enande mane is a masterclass in producing the sunrise cry, before we launch into the metallic, razor sharp synths and bleeps of Den väldige.

We return to the heartfelt vibes on Brinnande Blod, as Barker-esque synths shimmer behind a dubby kick and some heart-throbbing low end, before ending with Sju, or Seven, a dreamlike fall through perfectly executed mixing. 

Each track is built and deconstructed beautifully, making for a properly hypnotic trip where you’ll find, as one Discogs reviewer so neatly puts it “Both sides keep going long after the needle runs out”.

Two Shell – Soul City EP

The London duo have been causing a stir over the last year or so, and they continue to do so with their latest offering of slick yet rude, steely yet sludgy cuts of post-dubstep and bass infused techno. Blobject skips and dances through a fuzzy backdrop of wobbling synths, where Softcore grabs you by the elbow and rags you down to the garage.

LabBaby TM cuts a bouncy little route through to the closer, where we’re met with the skittery vocals and drums in Spreedrun. Dramatic, deep, and basically just quite dutty – this is a seriously fun slice of wax you are certain to be two-stepping along with more than once this summer.

Rudolf C – Gamma!

There must be something in the water down under, as Rudolf C lands in Scotland with four tracks of pure party material on the Craigie Knowes label, following up from his contribution on their last EP, where he joined the likes of Eluize, No Moon, Innershades and DJ Python.

Stepping out with his solo debut for the label, Rudolf dives straight in with some moody acid grooves on Sandal Acid, before he dials up the euphoria on the title track with some irresistible arpeggio fun. On a Plateau takes the listener on a breaks fuelled trip through deep space, emerging into a sun-dappled forest with a closer that nicely rounds out the trip - from an artist to keep an eye this year.