- Powerful rhythms make for 3024's strongest record in years.
- The artists on 3024 FYE 1, 3024's first record of the year, have all been in fine form. Baltra, one of lo-fi house's breakout stars, has made some of that style's most compelling stuff in the last 18 months. Yak followed his 2017 debut, Yak / Mido, with a handful of equally devastating percussion tracks. Juniper's last EP was a subtly charismatic deep house record. And Martyn's latest album, Voids, showed him reconnecting successfully with his musical origins. The Dutch artist's contribution here, "Everything Is New," hits the same sweetspot heard on bassy techno anthems like "Miniluv," "Masks" or "Left Hander." There's an extra emphasis here on whiplashing syncopation, echoing the UK garage swing in one of Voids's highlights, "Cutting Tone." It's an essential Martyn tune.
Yak's "Lucid Nightmare" is about as good. He installs a few cool, sustained notes, but it's possibly the UK producer's rawest drum track yet. On a night out, some tracks might make time stand still; "Lucid Nightmare" will slap you into next week. "Bensalem Owls" is a brittle drum track with draughty pads and an agitated air. The drums are impatient and unsettled, and the sweetly hummed vocal sometimes drifts out of sync. Juniper, AKA Dan Mumberson and Reuben Holt, give 3024 FYE 1 its most understated moment, a glitchy, chord-stamped house track spliced with dog-eared samples. It rounds off 3024's strongest EP in recent memory.
トラックリストA1 Yak - Lucid Nightmare
A2 Baltra - Bensalem Owls
B1 Martyn - Everything is New
B2 Juniper - Constellations in You