SLINK NYC’s rrao arrives on DJ Python’s Worldwide Unlimited label with a tight, rhythmically fluid triptych that assembles bouncy, tuneful tabla pats, harmonium drones and levitational raga vocals into foot-stomping, club ready structures.

Echoing foley clacks open rrao’s debut EP ‘hara’, tumbling into snatched bass womps that signal Bristol’s soundsystem culture before a willowy South Asian vocal and subtle tablas shuttle us to the subcontinent. The DJ and producer has established a solid reputation over the last decade working sound across New York City’s club scene, performing regularly and heading up the SLINK NYC event series and label. If you’ve been looking closely, you might have spotted their characteristic productions on SLINK’s ace compilation EPs, and ‘hara’ picks up where those tracks left off, working experimental sounds into three tracks that never stray too far from the ‘floor.

‘ramanujan prime’, presumably named after Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, is the EP’s most propulsive track, snipping choppy chatter and inserting into a beat sequence that’s part wiggly NYC club and part dissociated Bollywood dream. But rrao saves the best for last, weaving tonally rich tabla sounds into stuttered kick sequences and xenharmonic gong sounds that’d give Donato Dozzy or Batu a run for their money. Never tipping into over-complication, it’s smart, futuristic club music that’s restrained, dubby and refreshingly open-hearted. Fans of DJ Python won’t wanna miss this.