New music: Dro Carey - Club Injury Handbook EP

Our deconstructed dance hero Dro Carey – otherwise known as Sydney based producer Eugene Ward – has just this week released his new EP, Club Injury Handbook, for Greco-Roman, his first full release since 2013’s Vital Trails EP. Carey’s made a name for himself nationally and internationally for his oddball blend of house and techno; his prior releases on Trilogy Tapes and Opal Tapes are alive with unpredictable but tautly constructed structures and distinctive textures. He most recently teamed up with LA producer Napolian, for a great l’il number, Up Nex, for OneohTrix Point Never’s Software Recordings' awesome MIXWARE free download series, listen to that one here (and have a poke around Napolian’s release Incursio, too - wicked stuff).

Dro also produces under the alias Tuff Sherm. This week Dro’s dropping a split 12” vinyl for Templar Sound, the Scope EP, with productions from both his aliases... literally a split personality split! We’ll take a look at Scope at a later date… for now we’re here to tell you about Club Injury Handbook, and just how damn tight it is. Featuring four tracks, there's no pussyfooting around, Dro takes you headlong onto the dance floor with the pulsating, raspy-synth-laden Mammal Tank, before recruiting Sydney-based MCs Chocolate, from Sierra Leone, and Kid Kairo from Nigeria, for distinctive banger Monomiles, a track that sees the MCs rapping about clubbing issues like the curtailing of late venue trading and lock out laws, and that could easily give LV and Okmalumkoolkat a run for their money. The title track is a squelchy, blippy, propulsive number loaded with woozy, growly, burpy vocal distortions.  A statement accompanying the EP suggests that with the release Dro hopes to “transition from outsider darling to wider club circles"- indeed, the EP’s definitely got widespread appeal, without losing any of the signature off-kilter vibes we love Dro for.

Dro’s in good stead on Greco-Roman, a London/Berlin based label who host regular speakeasy parties, and who've done releases for boundary-pushing electronic artists Tirzah, Joe Goddard, Hackman, Disclosure, T.E.E.D. and more. They also have the best tagline of any label we know: “We release colourful music because we dance in the dark.” Nice.  The themed artwork for Club Injury Handbook (below) is worth mentioning too: a draftsman style diagram of a club and its emergency routes. In the ultimate irony, nobody’s gonna safe in the club when any of the tracks from Club Injury Handbook get played –  but it’s that good, we’re happy to take any potential bodily blows that result from losing it to this unhinged madness in the dark.

Hear the title track below, and stream the rest via FACT Mag. Purchase via iTunes.

Once you’ve listened to the EP re-visit Dro Carey’s mixtape for FADER Magazine last month, it was a good ‘un:

GRECO ROMAN SOUNDCLOUD / DRO CAREY SOUNDCLOUD / DRO CAREY FACEBOOK