DJ Earl - DJ Earl EP

At the ripe young age of 22 DJ Earl represents the new generation of Chicago dance music. Having been working the core of the juke sound since he was 16, its unsurprising that Earl's self-released EP posted yesterday is a body of work entirely from and for the ghetto. It is streamlined for optimum footwork-battle appeal using aural space and lack thereof to let every bang coldly ring out. 'Heart Attack' and 'Pressure' with its dadaist minimalism are exercises in MVP chemistry, boiling down what is unique about juke to its glacial essence. On the other ends of the spectrum 'Down Under' is a concentrated, dizzily heated fix of juke brutality and 'Use Ya Handz' provides a cameo for the ghetto-house strain of jukey party pleasers. The EP definitely demands a lot of dedication, and as I mentioned before, is truly designed for a hardcore Chicago fanbase, but 2 years on (approx) from juke's rise to prominence, Earl is really keeping the scene real while simultaneously refining the inventive drum-science that has made it so internationally in vogue.