- Ikonika has historically held down her music's flightier impulses by placing it within the tight structures of dubstep, garage and house. Last year's Aerotropolis loosened the grip a little, putting more emphasis on melody and pushing the dance backbone further into the background. Position, on the other hand, is unleaded club music. Stiff and pummelling, it's her best attempt at bringing the variety of her slamming DJ sets into her own productions.
"Position" is the opposite of what we expect from Ikonika. It borrows exaggerated '80s drum sounds from Aerotropolis, but now they're hard and steely, with a gruff male vocal keeping time—only the wheeling arpeggio in the chorus sounds familiar. "Praxis" tiptoes by on a hesitant rhythm, but its wide-load bassline and silvery synths recall the chunkier dubstep vibes of her debut album. Moving in a more contemporary direction, the hollowed-out "Strawberry Underlay" looks to the more experimental angle of her Hum + Buzz label, with start-stop drums, harsh handclaps and gilded synths. Position closes out with "Wakeup Sequence," a chiptune candyland that feels lively and unpredictable, pushing the envelope for what could easily have been a tired sound by now.
The four originals are some of Ikonika's best club tracks yet, but three remixes sweeten the deal. First up is an unexpected Perc rework of "Mega Church." It's about as ugly and distorted as you'd think, yet also kissed with a Shed-like swing to the drums. (Ikonika's melodies even cut through the fuzz once or twice.) Her own VIP of "You Won't Find It Here" doesn't radically change the track, but Alex Deamonds' edit does. Welding a Chicago house foundation to the twitchy original, the chunky piano riffs are satisfying set against Ikonika's more lightweight sound—just another bit of deft dance floor fusion on an EP full of it.
トラックリストA1 Position
A2 Praxis
B1 Strawberry Underlay
B2 Wakeup Sequence
Digital: Mega Church (Perc Remix)
Digital: You Won't Find It Here (VIP)
Digital: You Won't Find It Here (VIP) (Alex Deamonds Edit)