MOMA READY - Body 25

Wyatt Stevens can't sit still for a second: put him in front of the decks and you won't be able to pry him away until security hauls him off. His is a passion that runs deep and aims to illuminate every corner of electronic music derived from the African-American pioneers of the early Eighties. His online profiles, under the moniker MoMA Ready, are packed with mixes of every kind, including a very recent tribute to his own community, since February in America is Black History Month.

But over the course of the year, Wyatt also puts out his own music in the form of 12"s and EPs, a flood of material that he then reshuffles into summary compilations of whatever has convinced him most - "Body 25" is the seventh release in a tradition that began in 2018 with "Body 17". This is therefore not a particularly conceptual listen, since the material in question rarely lends itself to the traditional long playing format, yet the result is curious and enjoyable, because MoMA deftly fries up spikes and softness across twenty tracks ready for consumption.

The work thus follows his usual elongated, shape-shifting formula, starting from the bones of house and techno to offer jungle excerpts ("RENEWED LOVE"), indiscreet glimpses of a trendy club ("MEADOWS"), hybrid interlocks between breakbeat and downtempo ("OPEN DOOR"), acid stompers ("DON'T BLINK", "TOUCH SENSITIVE"), withered drum machines ("HALLOWED GROUND") and a few stretches toward sample-driven trends popular on TikTok too ("LATE NIGHT LOVE", but above all the irresistible booty-shaking "RATTLE").

Sometimes sensuality wins out ("VELOUR"), elsewhere we find ambient and drum'n'bass walking arm in arm in tribute to Bentley Rhythm Ace ("TIME IT", "STARTING OVER"), then again a whole lineup of outsider sounds ("CATHEDRALS"), though the emotional peak is reached when the atmosphere turns sacred in the most soulful sense of the word ("SPIRITUAL SUCCESSOR", almost a cross between Gonjasufi and Dedekind Cut). In any case the digital palette is endless and the boundaries are always open - an aspect, this, also well illustrated by an old EP made together with fellow producer AceMo, aptly titled "AceMoMa".

Of course, the work remains a purely gut-level affair that doesn't reinvent the wheel, especially given how considerable its overall length gets - just a year ago "Body 24" was already offering a good hour-plus of music. What's missing, in short, is the element of surprise, or even just a unique and distinctive stance, of the kind found in the almost singer-songwriter-like works of Galcher Lustwerk, in the roaring jazz crevices of Waajeed, or in the more monochrome hard-nosed attitude of Theo Parrish.

But MoMA Ready is in any case too skilled to be caught off guard, gifted as he is with good taste and an innate sense of rhythm, but above all with years of hands-on field experience that lets him play around at will without ever forgetting the listeners gathered beneath the console. Here he is watching a sky covered by mechanical birds ("IMPERIAL"), losing himself in a robotic downpour of drums ("SCANNERS"), and finally battling it out between lounge, soul and IDM ("BREAK AWARENESS"), three tracks that close out the work with a mischievous little smile and the urge to start all over again.

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18/02/2026