Nikki Nair rounds off 2020 with a return to Scuffed Recordings for the ‘Trying To’ EP, featuring three new originals and a remix from Hermeth.
Originating from Knoxville, Tennessee, but now based in Atlanta, Nikki Nair’s productions have marked him out as one of the most exciting underground electronic producers of recent times; with a style that flits between electro, broken techno, and breaks, and an instantly-recognisable approach to sampling vocals.
One of the longest-running members of the Scuffed roster, Nikki has had a stacked schedule of releases in 2020, with appearances on Banoffee Pies, Worst Behavior, Gutterfunk, and Barely Legal’s Pretty Weird Records.
The ‘Trying To’ EP will be Nikki’s first full release with Scuffed since 2019’s ‘Exit Strategy’ EP, which saw support from the likes of Four Tet, Peach, Mr. Mitch and Moxie among others.
Opening the EP with ‘Justtryingto’, Nikki comes straight out of the blocks with a French Touch-esque disco sample giving way to glitchy breaks and weighty bass. Next up is the supercharged ‘Trunk’, an all-out warper clocking in at 150bpm.
On the B-side is ‘cclluubb’, a broken-beat DJ tool which sees Nikki’s trademark vocal sampling carrying along a Baltimore Club-influenced beat. Closing out the EP is Swiss producer Hermeth, who brings a rowdy injection of acid to his remix of ‘Justtryingto’.
The EP will be arriving on 12” vinyl and all digital platforms in late 2020, and will be the last artist EP from another strong year for Scuffed Recordings, which has featured releases from returning artists like Chungo and Stones Taro, as well as new names to the label like Heritage and An Avrin.
Scuffed Recordings line up their second vinyl sampler, featuring four heavy-hitting club tracks spanning the last year of the label’s output. The release sees tracks from Dubrunner, Heritage, Stones Taro, and Joe Craven pressed to vinyl for the first time, in a limited run of white labels.
Kicking off the release is Dubrunner’s ‘Zoya’s Trip’, originally released in December 2019 on the Scuffed Presents 003 release. Zoya’s Trip has become one of the most popular tracks in the Scuffed catalogue, spending six months in Beatport’s Leftfield House & Techno top 10, and seeing DJ support from the likes of Anja Schneider, Moxie, and Oneman.
Up next is ‘The Revelation’ from Brighton-based duo Heritage, taken from their EP of the same name. With its bass-heavy, breaks-driven beat, The Revelation picked up plays on BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, Boiler Room, and saw coverage in Mixmag and DJ Mag.
On the B-side Scuffed veteran Stones Taro steps up with the weighty ‘To Rave’. As one of the most long-standing members of the label’s roster, Kyoto-based Stones Taro has become a firm fan favourite with his idiosyncratic take on UK rave music.
Closing out the release is Joe Craven’s ‘Staring At Your Feet Or Mine’, a percussive UK techno stepper originally taken from the Bristol-based producer’s debut release.
