Salik DJ Sotofett
Inna Brixton / Acid Site Mix

Maara makes seductively uninhibited, proggy dance music. In fact, she’s quickly becoming one of its foremost exponents. Barely pausing for breath between releases, ‘Spiral 2 the Other Side’ finds the Montreal artist summoning divine feminine frequencies with a hypnotic, ritual-ready 4-tracker.Some Maara productions are shot through with an almost radiant optimism, but here, darkroom throb prevails. Big on the gated vocals, ‘Spiral 2 the Other Side’ achieves cybernetic sensuality through trippy, moiré-d electro, while ‘Take the Wheel Miss Sweetie’, with its driving, fathoms-deep approach, provides a direct take on the blueprint.The Canadian assumes the role of high priestess on the flip. ‘Forget the world’ is a ritual incantation for bridging seen and unseen worlds; prog house magick with shades of ‘90s trance utopia. Rounding things off with a tunnelling electro tripper, ‘Doom Quest’ references the vortex-dwelling atmospherics of early tribal modes to mind-altering effect.

The third release from Seattle-based collective secondnature comes from Archivist, with the Star In A Circle EP: Four introspective tracks that take you on a journey through Archivist’s strong mood persona in the form of intricate, subtle musical landscapes and undertones. Archivist explores the power of anxiety, loneliness and melancholia to compel movement, delving into the tension between internal struggle and dance floor liberation.