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From London
Recommended if you like Nikki Nair, Anz, Ahadadream
Up next Debut EP Jellyfish out 6 July
On her NTS Radio show, London DJ Debbie Ijaduola, AKA debbiesthuglife, is liable to throw everything from 2000s dancefloor-fillers such as Basement Jaxx’s Oh My Gosh and Kelis’s Acapella with apocalyptic dubstep bass, trap lyricism, Jersey Club beats and Britney Spears. It’s a high-octane, unpredictable mix, only unified by the fact that when Debbie is on the decks, the energy is up.
Bringing this ungovernable, quickfire sensibility to club lineups alongside the likes of Welsh producer Kelly Lee Owens and American rapper Zack Fox, Ijaduola has recently been releasing her own productions, seemingly taking inspiration from the need to get her crowds moving and to keep them on the floor. Her debut release, 2024’s Juicy for Ya, easily fulfilled that premise with its chipmunk-tuned vocal sample and skittering kick drums, primed to reverberate through the body when firing out of a large speaker stack, while this year’s No Signal channels an Eric Prydz-style trance synth.
It might sound like an irreverent set of tunes but on her upcoming debut EP Jellyfish, Ijaduola gets more serious. Darker, heavier and intensely propulsive, across its seven tracks there are shades of Goldie’s Rufige Kru alias on the hammering drum’n’bass of Medusa, Special Request’s chopped breakbeats on the title track and Coki’s bass weight on Float. This is lively music to inspire the late-night crew. And yet, in Medusa there’s also a joyous sample of what sounds like Homer Simpson screaming; on Jellyfish a jazz Rhodes lick tastefully rolls through, maintaining the chaotic playfulness that ultimately makes Ijaduola’s music so hard to resist. Ammar Kalia
This week’s best new tracks
Wednesday – Elderberry Wine
Elderberries can heal – but make you puke when eaten raw, says Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman, taking them as inspiration for this pedal-steel-sweetened heartwarmer about striking the right balance in relationships. LS
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler – If I Had a Boat
After 2023’s Darkness, Darkness, the guitarist and producer unveil a full-length album, led by this 11-minute Lyle Lovett cover: fine acoustic chiming fractures into pointillist, dancing electronics. LS
Mark William Lewis – Tomorrow Is Perfect
The superb London singer-songwriter, who sits somewhere between Dean Blunt and Prefab Sprout, is the first signing to A24’s in-house label. His first single for them lopes along slowly, suffused with evening warmth. BBT
Moskito – Why Wena
The South African group’s 2001 album Idolar is being released internationally for the first time this month, and the swaggering but nimble-footed groove of Why Wena shows off its charm. BBT
Zoh Amba – Fruit Gathering
The improv prodigy’s sax and her band’s percussion and glimmering piano expand with beauty and unease on the first taste of her new solo album, shuddering with trepidation as they reach outward. LS
For Those I Love – Of the Sorrows
His track I Have a Love became an improbable dancefloor smash – and the Irish poet-musician’s latest is just as earnest and gimlet-eyed as he weighs up whether to leave Ireland behind. BBT
Florry – Truck Flipped Over ’19
Wednesday fans may love Philly band Florry, whose second album – out today – amiably embodies John Fogerty’s concept of chooglin’, though there’s darkness in this sludgy recollection of a highway truck crash. LS
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