This may have been an average year for albums but there has been an incredible amount of fantastic EPs. This list is in no particular order and covers a lot of ground; from doom metal to alt rock to art pop to dance floor fillers.
Kessler
Ambivalent
Kessler is an absolute master of bass music. This EP is a showcase of just how well he melds disparate genres of dance music into his own sound. From the pitched up vocals of post dubstep to the clattering percussion of DnB, and even some banging techno.
It’s all in here and Kessler makes it all sound effortless.
Rupture//Rapture
Daylight
I’ve actually said that I wasn’t going to say any more nice things about R//R, but he’s been in incredible form this year.
I’m a huge fan of melodic techno and R//R just hits the sweet spot for me. The female vocals layered into these tracks give them a lightness of touch, while the bass and percussion gives the songs enough edge to stop them becoming dull or floaty. The last two tracks have a more insistent big room feeling that helps push things a little harder.
So we have five tracks of propulsive, uplifting techno here – what’s not to love?
Broken Suns
The Past Devours the Future
The Past Devours the Future is a masterclass in atmosphere.
The first track, More Satellites Than Stars builds an amazing feeling of dread. From the glitch beats to the squealing guitar and sax down in the mix, it just builds and builds to it’s bruising crescendo. No one instrument stands out – it’s just a wall of sound, crushing you like an avalanche. Bend like a Reed in the Wind sounds like a cross between a horror film soundtrack and Hans Zimmer at his best.
Tired Hieroglyph starts more as a dance banger, heavy synths and a monotone female vocal remind me of someone like Factory Floor but the song quickly morphs into a mody electronic post rock number.
It’s a fantastically assured debut, I can’t wait for more from them.
Kareem El Morr
Supersonic ep
This is a great EP of moody dance music.
The opener, Supersonic, has a relentless pace that is constantly pushing forward, with the breakbeats just rattling your teeth. Quake has a big room stomping, techno bass line and track three, Blaze is a more upbeat, heady techno number. Not quite arms in the air stuff, but would definitely put a smile on a dancer’s face.
The EP highlight, Trance with Benefits, isn’t that trancy but it is a flat out banger that would drive a dance floor crazy.
If you’re looking for bangers, this is exactly what you need.
SCALPING
Flood + Flood Remixed
I’m not sure why it’s taken me as long to find a band that meld noise rock with techno but here we are.
Scalping have been working on the live scene for a while now, releasing a few singles but Flood is their first ep. It’s a stunning introduction that really perfectly blends the rock and dance parts together, sometimes you’re not sure if you should be in a mosh pit or just dancing up a storm. Sometimes, you’ll find yourself trying to do both at once.
The remix of this ep is well worth your time as well as some of the versions are even better with the AQXDM being a DnB facemelter.
Red Meat
Homo Vulgaris
In the lead up to this ep’s release, Red Meat announced that the only way this EP could be more 90’s Wax Trax is if he got addicted to Heroin.
He wasn’t lying. This ep is a perfect love letter to 80’s and early 90’s industrial. It’s all here, the crushing synths, distorted vocals and beats that will stomp anything in their way. If you have a love of classic industrial, this is an essential ep for you.
Gatecreeper
An Unexpected Reality
Gatecreeper are really embracing their inner Napalm Death with the first 7 tracks of this EP. It’s face melting death metal, where the longest song is one minute eleven seconds.
It’s a short sharp shock of music that almost feels like one song with different movements. However, on track eight, the band go full death doom and slow down to a crawl. At eleven minutes Emptiness is longer than all the other tracks on the EP combined, and it’s possibly the best thing they’ve ever done.
Emptiness is a crushing doom metal track that only begins to pick up the pace (for doom metal) at the five minute mark with the introduction of the double kick drums. It changes again at 8 minutes as the guitar lifts the gloom and I can honestly say that this song is on par with classic Paradise Lost, and that’s high praise indeed.
65daysofstatic
Mimik
Over the last year, 65days have been releasing music to their Patreon subscribers. It can be pretty hit and miss but this ep is the best thing they’ve released in ages.
This is 65days flavoured techno, something I’ve been wishing the band would lean more into for the last 10 years. It has everything you need, dark, moody synths, glitch beats and driving techno beats.
So come on 65, more dance music please.
None of these tracks are on youtube so here’s the Bandcamp link.
https://65daysofstatic.bandcamp.com/album/mimik
Burial Waves
Holy Ground
Burial Waves play an intense alternative indie / rock, and in places remind me of Trail of the Dead on their slower material.
Their first single, Light heads, went into heavy rotation on my listening and hasn’t stopped months later. The second single, Cinema Shame, is somehow an even better song.
On most EPs the other 3 songs would be fillers but here these songs are almost as strong as the singles. This is just fantastic alt rock and that’s something that I’ve been missing in my life.
Julia-Sophie
Heartbroken </3
I guess I have to start out with an apology to Juila-Sophie here.
This is a fantastic EP, sitting between electronica and experimental pop and I have loved it since the first listen. But I can’t explain why. This is quiet, somber electronica and well worth your time. Sorry I can’t find the words to express why you should listen to it, but you really should. I had thought to just drop the ep out of this list but it deserves to be heard by more people.
The ways of exile 