- A deadly pressure cooker of a tune from the rising Berlin producer.
- Some tunes are the aural equivalent of edging, threatening to descend into maelstrom any second. Take "Plastic Dreams," with its unhurried breaks and jazzy noodling. It should be chill, though it's anything but: the bell tolling makes its 10-minute run a suffocating ride, a pressure cooker of a track that keeps unleashing madness onto dance floors 30 years on.
"Spit," from Berlin-via-Seattle transplant Gag Reflex's new EP on Scuffed, is one such track. Its gauntlet of hand drums and shouts is tight on its own merits, but like Jaydee's classic, the ominous drone in the background brings it home. Like her North American peers, Gag Reflex's breaky output injects rugged, chaotic energy in the queer dance music scene. "Spit" reins in those tendencies, with a streamlined tool building to an agonizing simmer. Used at the right time, this deadly drum workout should get any crowd ready to climax.