Wild Things

EVP is a bit of a legend on the London underground scene, and it’s easy to see why. This is solid, wall-of-sound party music: think Acid Techno in one room and this in the other. The production is tight and the sounds are resolutely psychedelic: noises that you would expect to hear on Parvati 150bpm bollockflingers, or even Suomi freestyle stuff, are laid out in a baggy groove that quickly picks up the pace and flings shit all over you. The Birdy Song has more in common with Hitchcock than novelty christmas party songs, The Great Machine is a gnarly bit of music to fist your wife to, and the stunning peak of the album Tryptamines brings all the influences and sounds together in a thundering, pacemaker-disrupting crescendo. And this is sort of a problem: you notice the same sounds and tricks coming up on multiple tracks; the way the breakdowns work the same, then drop back in with familiar basslines and screeches. One track worked into a set is going to be blinding – but over 9 tracks (excluding the dull-as-chipboard ambient thing at the end) it gets a bit stretched. Don’t get me wrong though – EVP has a dynamic, blistering sound that undoubtedly works wonders live. If you fancy something a bit new and you like it a bit nasty, give this a sniff.