Dusky pushes the envelope on underground house music with ‘Lydia’ EP

by: Dan Roy Carter Nov 28, 2015

The past two years have taught us that Dusky are not in the business of halfhearted activity. Since the inception of their 17 Steps imprint, a swift departure from their familiar stomping ground of AUS, Nick Harriman and Alfie Granger-Howell have made with carefully placed and stunningly relevant underground house music without so much as a glitch in quality. The Lydia EP lands to cap a year of strong extended sets and a handful of landmark releases for 17 Steps, but by no means signals a lull in stamina from the reliable UK house export.

The EP’s namesake track offers a distorted and dizzying take on the duo’s versatile sound, pairing shrill tech house beats and acidic lead work for a more doped up run at the current musical landscape. Whilst ‘Bitter Lake’ borrows the thick skin of European main room techno, it’s jackin’ undertones remind us that Dusky is a duo that relishes in the opportunity to bring the genre’s past and present hallmarks together without making records sound dated. By the time ‘Infinite Libido’ kicks in we are found alongside a more familiar melodic edge of the brotherly duo’s signature sound, but this time with a percussively charged edge and the club floor reassuringly close to heart. This is the rawest and most unadulterated we have ever heard from Dusky, but their consistency in pushing the envelope pegs the Lydia EP as another triumphant release from a UK force consistently bringing fresh produce to the table.

Purchase: Beatport