It might be a good idea to start a post with a base of flattery instead of ending with it so let me simply state that "Daniel Avery is, by far, one of the most exciting producers of electronic dance music in the year 2012."
To preface this thesis and to justify it, an obligatory biography would help. The young and London-based Daniel essentially is not just a producer but most of all a DJ – and for quite a long time at his residency for legendary nightclub Fabric. His unconventional and multifaceted track selection makes his style and sets unique – and consequently his own productions. You can convince yourself by listening to the large amount of mixtapes on his soundcloud page that made me discover and explore new sounds and styles over and over again with an added bonus being that they are beautifully mixed. In terms of genres, neither his sets nor his productions and remixes are easy to catch but the words "acid" and "psychedelic" should be kind of useful to fit the description most of time.
His career as a producer and DJ started with the alias Stopmakingme under which he already released remixes, tracks and EPs on labels like Kitsune, Tigersushi, Because, Remute and the Australian label Bang Gang – just to name a few. He also already did a lot of productions together with Justin Robertson (Deadstock) – a collaboration that always works and still continues today. He had his first debut as Daniel Avery no earlier than the end of last year with a track on a compilation for Headman's label Relish which perfectly matches his style. After a few remixes he released his debut EP Airstrike on the same label at the beginning of the year. His often played Movement EP on Throne of Blood made appearance in May and at the end of July he finally had his debut on Erol Alkan's label Phantasy with the Need Electric EP that put his name on the map.
At the beginning of the week, the young Britain now released his second EP Water Jump on Phantasy as a limited 12" with locked grooves. The digital release will be out on October 29th. As mentioned above, it is very difficult (and unnecessary) to label his music with a genre name but the words "acid" and "psychedelic" definitely match the title track "Water Jump" pretty well: hypnotizing vocals, a billowing bass line and a discreet acid groove. The second track "Drone Logic" evolves like an acid jam; it becomes more and more dense and strident but sounds incredibly modern and surprisingly bright. Mr. Avery also masters the craft to produce a true and conventional club banger like "Reception" – with a stomping rhythm, commanding vocals and the perfect dance groove. When you listen to the sample of the last track "A Quiet Life", the first thing that might come to your mind is: "That's The Chemical Brothers". The synths, the drums, the angelic voice – everything sounds like it is sampled from a Chems track. But what he does with it and how he is arranging the components is staggering. The Chemical Brothers returned the favor of this tribute multiple times by being one of the big names, among Andrew Weatherhall and others, who promote this young talent and play his tracks regularly.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/2593276"]
As already mentioned, the EP is now available as a limited vinyl till the end of the month. Whoever buys it together with the Need Electric EP on the Phantasy Sound Shop gets a little discount and more importantly an exclusive mix 12" as a gift. Whoever still has not heard enough of Mr. Avery can look forward to November when his FABRICLIVE 66 mix comes out with some unreleased material inside. Till then, there is more than enough audio material available on his soundcloud page including some of his newest remixes for The Draughtsman (Alex Egan) and Django Django.
