Top EPs September 2021
Time to draw breath from a whirlwind summer and sit scrolling through IOM then. The past month has seen day festival season come to almost to a close, Skrillex dancing on a set of decks in a pub, Four Tet sending everyone loopy for a new track, and wallets being emptied all around the country to really good soundtracks.
Some of those soundtracks have included tunes found below – because where’s the fun in playing anything that’s actually been released? Have a peruse of what’s below, and decide for yourself whether any of these top productions of the month came wafting over you like the smell of coffee in the morning as you tapped your card at the bar. Again.
Simo Cell – YES.DJ
No messing about to kick off this month’s edition. French producer Simo Cell throws us straight in the deep end with this rude, rude release on his own TEMƎT label, kicking off with a barrage of bass and sawing percussion on Short Leg. After this bruising encounter things remain as loose-legged on the thunderous Farts, before the title track ups the tempo, but in no way compromises on the intensity.
And the foot remains flat to the floor on the B-side, with skittering synths running maniacally over hissing vocals and more eye-rolling bass on Whispers, and the slightly more playful Cegetal taking us on a wobbly adventure to the darkest corners of the club. We finish with Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be, a brooding track that stretches out vocals, basslines and synths to mind-warping, reality-stretching effect – proper falling over material.
Chaos In The CBD – Brainstorm EP
The lads are back on In Dust We Trust and for the second time this year, they’ve delivered an impeccable little trip of dreamy, dubby house and techno. It’ll leave those with an atmospherically aligned taste in music frothing out the mouth.
Dusty pads galore, groovy little bass melodies and catchy elements dotted throughout, enjoy a slowly spiralling trip on a psychedelic lilo into the Chaos In The CBD whirlpool, and take a dip in the big old soundscapes that just let you explore and wander as your mind allows. Final track Mind Massage is the tentative stab at picking out a highlight, but really the entire EP is a solid slab of niceness built for the headphones on, eyes closed brigade.
Red Axes – Some Lights EP
When Red Axes put something out on Phantasy, you know it’s going to be serious. And instalment number 3 certainly doesn’t disappoint. Opening with Some Lights, you’re immediately dropped in on the biggest room in the warehouse, as the chugging rhythm and echoing, throaty synths stretch airwaves into big, wide, dark, sweaty spaces, probably filled with lasers.
Skulls continues that signature Red Axes-on-Phantasy sound, beating out a relentless rhythm interwoven with plenty of flitting acid and mournful, sighing synths. We finish with the darkly grooving skeleton in the cupboard that is Professor Grasstov, to top off yet another masterclass in making playful, leftfield techno from the Israeli pair.
Cleveland – Golem
Cleveland (a.k.a. Andrea Mancini), makes a debut under a new alias on Dutch outfit Kalahari Oyster Cult, and the result is a laser-focus, hyper detailed little package of bass swells, bleeps, beeps and swampy pads all sequenced with the precision of the surgeon’s scalpel. Forest and Trullo set the scene on the A-side, the sun setting on track two as things become a little darker, denser and more menacing.
On the flip you’re confronted by the little Golem skulking in the corner, belching out spooky melodies behind a blanket of chimes, and low howls from behind a curtain of breaks. Finally, Junes remixes the title track into a totally different monster, turning it from a lurking little ghoul into a dancefloor ready 4/4 weapon, oven-ready for those baffling early hours.
Lis Sarroca – Booyah EP
Some no-nonsense, no frills, no ego kind of fun in the form of five bouncing house tracks from Barcelona’s Lis Sarroca. She makes her debut on CHIWAX and strips every tune down to the bare chassis to reveal nothing but pure dancing material. The A-side consists of Barcelona ’92 and Booyah, two irresistible house cuts, the kind of tunes you’d want to take for a walk on a sunny day in the local park.
Turn over the party and things become a little more transcendental, with serious Dead Sea floating material on Perfect State, before Lis cranks up the 303s on clear highlight Herr, a track that manages to sound both modern and like a timeless classic all at once. And digital bonus Bermuda is like finding a fiver in your winter jacket.
Skream – Steel City Dance Disks Volume 23
The legendary Skream lands on the equally notorious Steel City Dance Discs, and not before time. And as you’d expect from the man with a PHD in wonkology, it’s really nasty stuff built for one too many tonic wines.
Opener Doolally actually takes us off on a (relatively) sedate start, a dramatic, trancey synth melody building tension nicely, the walk down the steps as the music and the air draws ever closer. Then you arrive in the frenetic, bouncing crowd that is Space Ghetto – great use of breaks, piano and vocal samples here. We finish with Drago The Destroyer – one that goes down as easily as the last dregs of your Red Stripe in a moist, sweaty, maelstrom of warpy madness.
Axon Growth Factor – Cytokinesis EP
Another flame-grilled success from down under now, as Axon Growth Factor serves up an EP fizzing with infectious energy and galaxy-like soundscapes to get lost in. Sludgy drones and choppy pads flow on a bedrock of percussion that’s been programmed to OCD perfection in Batch C, before the title track unfolds like a really satisfying Windows screensaver in all its bleeping, blooping glory.
The final original track, Oxidative Stress, is a gloopy electro number that stretches out razor sharp synths, an ideal little number to drop when turning the vibe nob from jazzy to spooky. Honestly though, the remixes steal the show. The relentless Guy Contact gives Batch C a good dollop of acid, and Escape Artist wrestles the title track into a head-in-the-clouds trance anthem – pure euphoria, swallow it all down.
Maara – Potion Activated
Draw the curtains, turn the lights off, and dive headfirst into this portal to the deepest, darkest corners of space and time – this EP is stupid. The Forbidden Plum does enough to set the tone, a driving, relentless rhythm tugging your consciousness further into an ever-darkening kaleidoscope, and there’s certainly no light at the end of the tunnel as you enter Miss Sweetie’s Inferno – a pitch black tangled jungle of distant tribal drums, shrieks, and bubbling streams of acid.
The meandering Dungeon Babez gives us time to draw breath, then the ground opens up beneath you again on Do U Feel Me and it’s another tribal, frenzied rhythm that gets the hard, fast treatment from D. Tiffany. Bring your inhaler for these weapons. Breathless stuff.
Dashiell – Going Nowhere, Fast
What is going on in Australia at the moment? Seriously, this is Dashiell’s first (readers feel free to fact check me on this) full EP, and there’s more quality in here than you’ll find in PSG’s dressing room. The A-side treats us to two smoky, 9pm sunset hazy house tracks – best consumed hot, with butter, especially that little minx of a title track.
On the B-side you’re treated to the aquatically hypnotic Oxy, then the gorgeous ambient hot-soup-for-the-ears piece, Scratching The Surface. Finally, Rudolf C remixes Going Nowhere Fast into an Overmono-esque belter – all throbbing bass and synths sharp enough to slice your finger on. One to really get stuck in to.
Kassian – Breathe
A top notch return to Shall Not Fade from the Hackney duo Kassian, straddling house, techno and jungle without ever really settling for one generic sound. Opener and title track shifts seamlessly from swaying in front of a homemade sound system on a hilltop, to sensory overload in front of a massive lighting rig as dreamy pads are suddenly cut out by big stabs of rasping synths.
Aerial draws everything back a little, a rolling little dubby number that just hints at a big trance breakdown, but hits you with more moody rhythms and groovy little melodies that cut brightly through the murk. Final track London Orbital takes us to breaks and to the humid fringes of the jungle – hop in the Focus and let’s do laps of the M25 to this one.
Ocean Stirs – Minesweeper EP
Dust off your finest Adidas clobber, this one is downright rude. Tom Jarmey gets his DnB crime-fighting head on as he adopts his alias of Ocean Stirs, and a collaboration between his rougher round the edges project and the murkier side of the Holding Hands label was always going to be, well, ridonkulous.
That being said, while each of the tracks absolutely has its place on a steamy dancefloor, there’s more than enough to unpack through the headphones as well, with enough subs to turn your head into cotton wool. Take the stratospheric Pluto for example, or the straight up nasty Nocturnal, that’s a B-side to take you to space and back in double quick time.
Guy Contact – Euphoria Simulator
This bloke is absolutely unstoppable at the moment. Coymix, Cragie Knowes and now the fact that he’s landed on Haŵs… well it must be my birthday or something. And good god damn, the results are just a bit good. Following a formula of basslines that are catchier than Covid, pads that have been plucked from somewhere near cloud 9, and 303s that are strained to within an inch of their little lives, this is prog house heaven.
As we see out the A with Whip Crack Cowboy, Guy throws in some serious psychedelia in the form of blissfully drawn out guitars, and the voyage to euphoria is complete as you flip and land on the soaring title track. By the time you’ve finished this flawless 6 part trip, trust me when I say all you’re going to want to do is get back there.
Lattice – Body of Water EP
If you’re not mates with Bezos or Branson, this is your best chance of a quick excursion to space, and you’ll get the window seat. The journey will be courtesy of Lattice on the Bristol-based air mile recordings, and takes the form of four reverie-inducing house tracks, lovingly designed for your maximum pleasure.
On the A we find the jaunty house cut Botanics, made a just a little tougher and groove-orientated on the CK & Central Remix with harder percussion and some of the nicest pads we ever did hear. Things only become nicer on the B side, in fact 8by8 might just be the perfectly cut crystal highlight in a bag of gems, and we finish with the gently washing waves of Liv to bring us back down to earth, in bed, with a cup of tea.
Sputnik One – Love From Above
As the nights draw in and the grey summer days turn to even greyer autumn ones, what better way to warm the soul and the soles of the feet than a nice mélange of UK techno, footwork and jungle. Shiny and clinical but with just enough of an organic feel to keep the crowd moving, opener Microbead sets the tone for this immaculately trippy little journey.
Whether it’s the bleeping soundscapes of Love From Above, the pattering, right-this-is-a-head-wobbler of Michael Cera, or the brooding post-dubstep wobble of Powder, open up this can of earworms and have a good old rootle around – there’s plenty to enjoy from Dublin’s finest.
Call Super – Cherry Drops I
Fresh from rearranging heads at festivals like We Out Here over the summer, Call Super releases an EP written at a time of upheaval and uncertainty on the label they co-founded with Parris. The timing feels pretty apt, and the tunes themselves are serious brain tunnellers, as you’d only expect.
Eyes Flow Wide skips along with catchy little motifs springing out from all over the place, and cowbell, always more cowbell. bodiesinheaven I is a little masterclass in building a track from the ground up, and following it to its completion is a really rewarding journey through singing strings and synths, before the EP is rounded out by the dancefloor orientated Cherry Drops. Warpy, innovative goodness.