Contributing WriterThe keen photographer is also responsible for the EP’s photo montage artwork
Rkay has been listening to electronic music since his early teens. Everything from dark dubstep to house, progressive beats, and big room has helped form his musical identity, but now he has fomented his own deep and avant-garde techno sound. As a DJ, he excels at driving, atmospheric and push and pull techno, whether it’s spaced-out and sci-fi or more chilled and soothing dub.
His new EP is centred around Rkay’s experience growing up in London and features ‘Terrors Of London’, which was one of the first songs he ever produced back in late 2021. Once the rest of it was completed more recently, he spent five months honing his photography skills, travelling to every corner of London to take the shots that make up the artwork, which will be both sold on the label’s Bandcamp and included in the digital files.
First up on this sonic trip around the capital is the brilliant ‘Blackwall Tunnel’, which fizzes with electricity as neon lights peel off pacey kick drums. It’s an urgent opener, and ‘Speeding Through The North Circular’ keeps things moving with more bulky drums and percussion. Dark energy pervades the synths and keeps you on edge, while ‘Terrors Of London’ has a groaning and evocative bassline that speaks to the threat of the underworld. ‘Shoreditch Shenanigans’ cuts loose with raw synths cutting up the bulky beats. It’s a party sound for sweaty, strobe-lit basements and ‘3AM On The Night Tube’ is then more sparse and unsettling. Synth ripples and rolling drums are topped with tranced-out pads for that perfect tripped-out club moment, while ‘Rush Hour’ is a frenzied world of swirling pads and unrelenting drums that echo the low-key dread and anxiety of the return to work.
Rkay’s London Town EP comes on Aespheric LTD on May 12th 2025.
Tracklist
1. Blackwall Tunnel
2. Speeding Through The North Circular
3. Terrors Of London
4. Shoreditch Shenanigans
5. 3AM On The Night Tube
6. Rush Hour
