Onyx

Crashing into his first full EP with Kindergarten Records, London-based artist Stolen Velour delivers an onslaught of agitated rhythms, crystal-crisp sonics and hulking bass-weight. Across three tracks and a remix by his old label-mate at Treehouse, Jabes, he throws together elements of UK funky, trance, industrial club and PC Music-style hyperpop into disorienting maelstrom of club fuel, in part a synaesthetic evocation of the black, red and white aesthetic of the Luo people of Kenya, of which he is descendant through his father. This is most present on Tibi Bat, chopped vocal chants and trance synths encircling its knotty percussive rattle, while Onyx mashes a bubbling cauldron of playful synth manipulation against stomping drum patterns. Symbiosis combines throbbing kicks and crisp percussive flourishes into a satisfying swagger: its unsettling, polyrhythmic lead obscuring its chuggy tempo. Only in moments of delicate breakdown does the uneasiness break, something Jabes forgoes completely with his remix, which seems to stalk the listener like a crazed assailant, tension ratcheting amid chants, screams and booming drum hits. Despite the intricacy of these tracks, there exists also an inherent light-heartedness. "Like a lot of my music, this EP likes to take the piss out of itself" explains Stolen Velour. Ultimately Onyx is a visceral marriage of the two impulses, aggression intermingled with sweetness, dark with light: tracks to inspire screw-faces and Cheshire-cat grins alike on the dancefloor.