Dawn Day Night – Dawn Day Night EP

Label: Astrophonica

Fusing the high-tempo genres of Juke and DnB might doesn’t seem like the wildest stretch of the imagination, but it’s still surprising how few producers have managed to get this one right. Aside from Dream Continuum’s EP from earlier this year, perhaps only one song has really stuck out in this niche genre-threshold; Fracture’s summer highlight Get Busy, which featured mysterious producer Dawn Day Night. Here the collaborator is setting out his own mission statement on his debut EP, and it proves for a frantic and intoxicating injection of dancefloor madness.

 

EP Clips

These four tracks run an impressive range, racing between genres while never sounding anything but part of a powerful, cohesive sound. Opener Alcoholic Dance Flow ricochets between DnB and Juke beat tropes, the Amen break battling for space with strong keys and a perfect vocal hook. Although there’s a lot going on here, it never sounds overloaded, retaining a balance that would surely churn up any dancefloor into a state of frenzy. The DnB break is traded for a Hip Hop equivalent as Dennis Coffey’s 1971 classic Scorpio is twisted into a manic footwork number on second cut Death of Scorpio.

Not one to rest on his laurels, the next genre Dawn Day Night targets is Ghetto Tech in the weighty Big Booty Girls, where serrated basslines duel for prominence with an impressive array of percussive tweaks and a perfect call-and-reply vocal. His talent for twisting existing genre tropes to this twisted new fusion is never less than superb, so it makes sense that it’s only on final track Voodoo Vibe, which again nods to big jungle beats that we’re perhaps left wanting more, having been spoiled by variety in the first three tunes. The slight dissatisfaction with the closer does nothing to diminish the breathless power of this unhinged debut, making this one an essential listen for anyone curious about the blurred borders between genres in our current music scene.

8.5/10