Hame DJ
Sandtrax

Following up to a pair of choice transmissions on Aussie operated imprint Vulcan Venti, Perth-based rising talent Hame DJ turns up on KOC with a debut four-track platter oozing pure elegiac acid vibes and transient, sci-fi-infused ambient, seamlessly hedge-hopping from UK bass to liquid jungle, through gauzy atmospheric techno and bastardized shades of Rephlex-style electronica.

Fresh as a cucumber, opener ‘On 1’ ushers its listener in a world of keys-loaded, faux-organic layers and rippling ’90s motifs. Threading its way betwixt garage, dub and piano house, the track brushes an equally vivid and dynamic tableau of shape-shifting floor-ready electronics. Starting off as a further mischievous affair, A2 ‘Zoot’ sounds like the outback cousin to Paul Woolford’s seminal steely burner ‘Erotic Discourse’ but soon evolves into a top-shelf breaky chugger that shall jam alien radars as much as it should have everyone on the dancefloor down on their knees in a jiffy.

Breaking the B-side in, slo-mo drifter ‘Nightlife’ turns the tempo down to ‘after-party sunrise’ mode. Implementing a lushly arranged battery of swampy 303 arpeggios, soft-spoken piano stabs and vaporous vocals, this one’s custom-cut for daydreaming with a bunch of friends by the Gold Coast’s idyllic seaside. Topping off that otherworldly journey is ‘Erosion’ – a FX-laden, hip-hop drums-strewn slab making the rounds between sepulchral, Kraut-dunked broken beat a la Tolouse Low Trax and post-Drexciyan synth wizardry. Proper mind-expanding stuff from a producer on the cusp of real big tings.