Alex Coulton Chevel Simo Cell
WSDM004

Pinkman stoke the furnaces of despair, fuelling them with Black Merlin. Conveyor belts grunt out resentment, cold chords curl, synthlines sneer and pallid percussion punctuates. Noise echoes above, hammered clanks exploding into shards. Below the work continues, sweat smeared stains and hissing airless gasps. In the end, all is swallowed; gulped into the gaping assembly line.

Sweat Ur Prayers, the next wavy addition to Radiant Love’s catalogue, is the first solo-EP of Byron Yeates. In their messaging, their timbres and grooves, the 4 tracks speak faithfully to Yeates’ inclinations as a DJ and label-head: the playfulness and buoyancy, a constant nod to the roots of rave, and a faith in dance music’s transformative power.Opening the release is the title track, a bubbling and breakbeat-laden 8 minutes. Mantric repetition is a running theme throughout the EP, and we hear “Raindrops falling all around, freeing me from other sounds; trickling down my weary eyes, bringing me back, I’m ready to fly” as an opening salvo. Yeates’ is known for his vast, enduring DJ sets, inducing sheens of sweat from all involved – with these tracks, it’s clear he’s unafraid to take his time to build tension as a producer as well. The percussive conversation between hi-hat and snare complexifies until a clap enters near the 2 minute mark and suddenly we’re in the main, driving groove.

With the arrival of his first-ever album, Mall Grab stretches ever further beyond his comfort zone, adding new sounds and energies to his repertoire — inspired by the artist’s love and appreciation for genres such as hardcore, hip-hop, and pop. Inviting collaborators such as the lyrical grime champions D Double E and Novelist, the US punk band Turnstile’s lead singer Brendan Yates, and the rising queen of jungle Nia Archives to join on his album, What I Breathe is a sweeping demonstration of an artist whose dance music versatility continues to blossom.