4 out of 5

Label: Breakin’ Records

Produced by: Ed DMX

A tight cut of (mostly) to-the-point squelch from DMX Krew, Modern Body E.P. finds Ed back “home” on Breakin’ Records, but veering away from the general club-leanings of that imprint and towards murkier funk. Each of the four tracks on Modern Body are of a very digital aesthetic, the tight, clipped synths pulsating coldly across a broader bass – a sound not out of reach for Ed (if anything is), but definitely a bit more modern than a lot of his catalogue tends towards, and then you note the name of the EP again.

The generally fast pace of these songs lends itself to shorter runtimes; lo, the one track that drags a bit is ‘Upstairs Track’, running five minutes versus the others’ 3-4 minute runtimes, and probably also the least developed song in the set, essentially just a couple bars looped. A good core beat, but definitely could’ve benefitted from giving that extra time over to any of the other cuts, or even another short tune. However, even if it runs long, the other tracks are imminently repeatable (worth flipping the wax over, multiple times!), earning this a solid placement in the stacks,