Electro/club 2019

While other genres and sectors have recently witnessed a massive rediscovery of the EP, especially as a launch format for promoting new talent (our special features on soul/r&b explicitly make this point), the whole world of dancefloor electronic music has always held the format in the highest regard, still considering it the prime vehicle for spreading new tracks and bringing fresh talent to light, allowing artists to build a solid following while waiting for more ambitious projects. Practical and versatile enough to be used in the most varied situations, with the advantage of offering a broader perspective than the standalone track, the beloved twelve-inch remains the preferred currency among club-culture devotees, a means of communication as fascinating as it is extremely sprawling, especially in today's overflowing sea of releases. To bring at least a little order to a distribution universe that's often all too chaotic, Ondaquadra tries to offer a selection, on a strictly seasonal basis, of the best EPs/12”s released in the previous quarter, trawling through cult names, connoisseur's gems and new talents seeking the spotlight. Without hierarchies or particular preferences, here are the most enticing new releases in house, techno, electro and related genres, picked from the most far-flung corners of the globe. Now dance, dance, dance till you drop!

Anastasia Kristensen – Ascetic (Arcola)

One of the most established DJs on the Copenhagen scene, Russian-born Anastasia Kristensen turns to production with “Ascetic”, her first collection of original tracks, released via the revived Arcola, a Warp sublabel brought back into activity last year. She's clearly no novice for the occasion, putting her experience behind the decks on full display in an EP of great sensory quality, built on intriguing developments and satisfying rhythmic patterns with sharp techno and breakbeat contours. Offered in a double version, the title track makes excellent use of hi-hats and tiny bell-like melodies in a dazzling interplay that recalls the glories of 90s IDM (the label's name isn't lying), playing on wildly different rhythmic frameworks that highlight her compositional versatility. Sinister minimal harmonies (“LXR Dream”) and pounding acid-techno progressions (“Donni”) round out an already very interesting debut, the fruit of a personality who knows how to move and engage a crowd without ever falling into excessive linearity. We look forward to her next move.

Cherushii & Maria Minerva – Cherushii & Maria Minerva (100% Silk)

On December 2, 2016, Chelsea Faith Dolan, already known in the club world as Cherushii, lost her life in a fire that broke out at the Ghost Ship, a space used by underground collectives in the Oakland, California area. Her labelmate Maria Minerva, with whom she had in the meantime forged a close friendship and travelled extensively across the United States, decided after her friend's death to take charge of her rich musical legacy, to keep her memory alive for the years and decades to come. In a sense, this mini-album, the result of a collaboration already underway before Dolan's passing, functions as an actual testament to her art, to a refined and sinuous approach to house and club music more broadly. With Maria Minerva providing the vocal commentary (at times almost too hypnagogic) over her friend's alluring textures, the record's seven tracks offer an authentic cross-section of the producer's potential, torn between classic Chicago house sounds, Balearic echoes (“Thin Line”) and more sophisticated jazzy/electro cadences (the reworking of “Nobody’s Fool”). Minerva's lyrics too, suspended between nostalgia, abandonment and desire, undoubtedly heighten the collection's appeal. Even so, the project once again lets us focus on Cherushii's great melodic instinct and her extraordinary atmospheric pathos, leaving us only to imagine what her creative future might have held. Hers is, without doubt, a weighty legacy.

Denis Horvat – Miracle Of The Rose (Afterlife)

Even when it's far removed from the pointillist experiments of Lorenzo Senni or the curious abstract frameworks of a TCF, trance can still be thrilling and pull moments of real quality out of the hat. The latest release by Croatian producer Denis Horvat (though based in Copenhagen) is clear proof of that. Close to the unstoppable drive of 2000s German trance, but with a techno edge that slightly modernizes its structure, the quartet of tracks making up “Miracle Of The Rose” is an intriguing showcase of what the genre can still do, a tetris of club-ready cuts with slow-building but intensely dynamic progressions, never afraid of melody (the synthetic balances of “Royale”) nor of the voice (the hypnotic cadences of “Noise”). Even in the simple act of listening, the EP delivers moments of pure exhilaration.

DJ Fulltono – Before The Storm (Exit)

If you thought that DJ Rashad, Jlin and RP Boo had already said everything there was to say about footwork, this small but intense release from Exit, a label previously known for pushing new drum'n'bass languages, will probably make you think again. Taking the minimalist research already present in the scene's leading names to its extreme conclusion, Japanese producer DJ Fulltono cuts straight through samples and worldly references, aiming directly at the genre's rhythmic essence. Across the four tracks of “Before The Storm”, the producer draws out a murky yet remarkably agile array of rhythmic possibilities and fragmented textures, garnishing them with only the faintest atmospheric touches (“Keeper” the most notable example in this regard) or barely perceptible melodic nuances (the opening “Apache”). A project with a heftier runtime would have really tested the staying power of DJ Fulltono's sound, but even as it stands, the Japanese producer shows he knows exactly what he wants and how to get it, proving that the conversation around footwork's potential is far from over.

DVA x Gage – PIFFD (Keysound)

If the story as told by Scratcha DVA and Gage is to be believed, the former turned up at the latter's flat completely drunk to work on the track that would go on to become the title track of the following EP. The first known for his eccentric, almost alien approach to his own material, the second for a touch that's abrasive yet always club-friendly, on “PIFFD” the two join forces to produce a quick-fire showcase of evolved, experimentally-minded grime, marked by piercing bass, hammering samples and a thoroughly deconstructed sense of composition. On “FLYTNURSE”, if anything, things get even more complicated, veering almost into noise territory, a sharp contrast to the otherwise brash but ultimately settled design of the underlying pattern. The remix of that same track, aimed at stripping out the noisy interference of the original version, closes out a trio of tracks with relentless force and a conflicted tone, able to make atmosphere and chaos coexist in a single embrace. Hitting replay is only a matter of time.

Konduku – Gegek (Nous’klaer Audio)

At a time when electronic music is (rightly) becoming an ever more global affair, entrusted to producers who celebrate and renew the deepest traditions of their own homelands, Konduku's new release could almost get lost in the crowd. That conditional is necessary, since there's too much going on in “Gegek” for a record like this to simply vanish into the vast sea of today's distribution system. Drawing inspiration from the sounds and natural beauty of his native Turkey, Ruben Üvez crafts a release that's disparate in nature but deeply evocative, in which fragmented tech-house rhythms slot into refined ambient frameworks and winding folk threads. While it's true that the rhythmic side sometimes risks taking over a little too much, the producer nonetheless knows how to keep the more conventional club impulses in check, channeling them into a vision that knows how to engage listeners without giving up on imagination or a (thoroughly oblique) taste for melodic accents and atmospheric charm. Come the next album, the power of his imagination should shine through even more clearly.

Nihiloxica – Biiri (Nyege Nyege)

All praise be forever due to Nyege Nyege, for having shone a well-deserved spotlight on an entire universe of sounds, contexts and producers, gripping enough to set even the most static party ablaze. Born from the meeting of British drummer Spooky J, keyboardist Peter Jones and the collective of Ugandan percussionists making up the Nilotika Cultural Ensemble, Nihiloxica is among the flagship names of the Kampala label, a combo that fuses the deepest heritage of the Buganda region with sophisticated, fully contemporary production means. All of this in order to build a new dance language, global yet at the same time specific to the local reality in which it was conceived. Following on from the self-titled 2017 EP, "Biiri" finds the group sharpening the tools at their disposal even further, offering a quartet of tracks that dig with greater force (at times even taking on an industrial edge, as in the synthetic abrasions of "Ding Dong") into the potential of their sound, pushing to the extreme the exploration of rhythms and textures already successfully begun on their previous work. Focusing even more closely on the region's rich heritage, the new project bears witness to a shift towards a darker, more menacing aesthetic, marked by grandiose polyrhythms, unexpected crescendos (the finale of "Baksimba") and powerful synthetic lashes, in a union of worlds and cultures expressed here with even greater conviction. Simply unmissable.

nthng – Shine (Transatlantic)

Already having made an impression two years ago with the captivating "It Never Ends", a substantial collection that highlighted notable dub-techno leanings, Dutch producer nthng resurfaces in 2019 with "Shine", a short twelve-inch in which he further deepens his passion for sounds close to the dub universe. Hazier and more atmospheric than some of his other work, the producer's latest EP sinks its claws into ambient, if not outright psychedelia (the closing "Atom" mimics a drowsy acid ballad, complete with rainfall and birdsong), slowing the beats down even further or leaving only a vague impression of them, a distant memory. The result is a vibrant, evocative listen, whose slow-burning dynamism doesn't stop the tracks from showing off their dazzling expressive range. In its slow unfolding, built to evoke a languid trance, nthng finds new creative lifeblood, all while staying true to an aesthetic that has long been defined.

Slikback – Tomo (Hakuna Kulala)

Co-founder of the same label through which he releases his records, Kenyan producer (though based in Kampala) Slikback pursues, through Hakuna Kulala, goals similar to those of the already more established Nyege Nyege, spreading across the world the creativity of East African artists marked by a versatile approach and a sound that nonetheless leans towards a club context. With "Tomo", his second EP in the space of two years, the producer throws himself headlong into a dense, unsettling aesthetic that isn't afraid to venture into the most violent industrial techno ("Rage", a title that says it all), or to blur the lines between footwork and gqom, elevating both while still respecting their original contexts ("Sonshitsu"). While "Kyokai" edges close to the searing avant-garde precision of Nkisi, "Zuhura" is instead fragmented, glitch-leaning techno, steeped in the hypnotic darkness of Sandwell District. Ever-recombining and in full evolution, Slikback's output promises sparks for the near future.

Tomi Chair – Tropical Imagination (Scissor And Thread)

Released by Francis Harris's own label, "Tropical Imagination" is a project that lives up to the promise laid out in its title, spreading across its twenty-seven minutes gentle house caresses and satisfying ambient digressions, fresh and lush in tone. The alias of Japan's Tominori Hosoya (who doesn't hesitate to make use of it on the opening track of side B, an exotic exploration riding on a slender piano commentary and "tribal" percussion), Tomi Chair fits with class and ease into the peculiar microcosm coined by Scissor And Thread, easily tapping into that subtle ridge that both joins and separates club music and atmospheric composition, rhythm and its simultaneous absence. The closer, a remix of "Heat Exhaustion" handled by the label's own boss, is perhaps the best possible seal on the Japanese producer's impeccable expressive versatility, a refinement of touch capable of shifting its own balance with the slightest changes of tone, seductive variations in register. Polished and satisfying.

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