4 out of 5

Label: GUDU

Produced by: Ed DMX

Era-spanning bops from the bop-maestro, Ed DMX.

The chill salaryman cover art and GUDU being more of a house label had me expecting sweaty club beats from DMX, but this was quite a surprising listen, bringing together some 90s electro vibes with a slight tinge of genre weirdness. For opener CJ Vibe, that’s a sci-fi “vibe,” with analog-sounding swoops getting pitchblended and, ultimately, made very funky. Ed builds us up, drops the beat out, then builds us back up, effortlessly as ever.

Followup DXIOO put me a bit on guard, though: this comes across like a scratch track of sorts; some minimal techno that just does its thing without much fuss. I wondered – given the B-side backing track being named ‘100 Series’ – if we were going to get two full tracks and two beat tracks. But… nah. That final track is a much more layered affair, and is classic Ed retro bomp: his slight touch of kitsch atop lovely, bouncy synths. And just before that, our title track’s “genre” is island club, with steel drum-like percussion and a breezy pace giving off video-game-beach-level feelings.

Not the most demanding Ed release or with any real all-timer, but one of those sneaky ones that proves to be mostly solid throughout, and dense / varied enough to merit extra listens.