- MM runs Her Records, an important part of the UK's new globalized, hybridized club music machine. The man himself has only released one single on the label, 2013's Reflektor Pack / Cruzer Edge, back when he went by Miss Modular. Since then, he's stayed mostly behind the scenes, so the self-titled MM feels like a reemergence. The release turns the gloss of "Reflektor Pack" into something much more sinister.
"9th Ritual" is an auspicious start: the swarm of Ha stabs bring to mind Lotic's excellent Heterocetera, but the lunging drums that close in from all angles are pure MM, at once seductive and violent. (He says he broke his MIDI drum pad while making it.) "Five Rivers" is no less forceful—half of its drum hits sound like the slamming FX from Clipse's "Grindin"—but it's looser, with undulating waves of sub-bass that catch the central cowbell motif in their powerful tide. (MM can get a lot out of a cowbell.)
"Rope" and "Constricted" put some meat on MM's percussive skeletons. Each starts out sharp and bony, but eventually "Rope" gets filled out by creeping strings in a breakdown that makes the brittle track feel supple. The slower "Constricted" sprouts a synth riff that sounds like a pitched-up sample from Jamie Principle's "Your Love"—it bursts with a positivity that stands in direct opposition to the EP's chaotic energy. Completing the transformation, Uruguayan producer Lechuga Zafiro closes MM with a stellar remix of "9th Ritual," which sports a quirky bassline that reverses the effects of its high-powered drums. It closes an EP with a well-rounded view of dance music, in terms of both genre and in terms of mood.
Tracklist01. 9th Ritual
02. Five Rivers
03. Rope
04. Constricted
05. 9th Ritual (Lechuga Zafiro Remix)