emma dj: godrime

Lee Gamble’s UIQ unveils a killer new 26 track, hour long tape of smoked-out rap and electronix by pivotal Parisian DJ/producer, Emma DJ, hustling a gang of leading local heads on his first foray into slow sludge styles and chasing up cult mixtapes for L.I.E.S., Brothers From Different Mothers, and Collapsing Market. Constructed entirely as one-shot iPhone recordings, ‘godrime’ sees Emma DJ prove their cult calibre, and the diversity of their style, with a first batch of syruppy productions after establishing a fierce reputation for club music. Borne out of a period of intense isolation, and joined by, deep breath - Bambounou, Cambyse, Eugene Blove, Lemaire, Kamilya Kuspanova, Lediouck, Lily Standefer, Maoupa Mazzocchetti, Nono Ekichii, Otro, Pierre Dagba, Swan Meat, Tmongo and Ivre Ciroc - the results showcase the exploratory underbelly and flipside of the Parisian club scene in 2021, bridging brooding rap with soul crushing electronics in a proper, fugged out, late night style. The 26-track album-cum-mixtape feels like being admitted into the inner circle of the Parisian scene, a fly-on-the-wall of heads down sessions where the mic and zoot circulate, smoky air trembling to cold quaking subs lit by screen glow and blipping LEDs on the mixer. It’s a heady experience, dank but womb-like in its low-key pressure and cocooning vibe, coolly navigating the peripheries of screwed emo-rap in ’991 OBI 1’ and the Salem-esque ‘Malicorne’, and vaporised into soul strung haze on ‘Bag Eye’, with a gallic romance bleeding thru on ‘Amor V2’, whereas ‘Fuck Le Diable’ dials up the agg to seethe on the biting point, and Swan Meat contributes to its dankest look in ‘Slowswan.’ - a real killer.