- A fascinating and impressive cross-section of Black dance music from one of its most vital platforms.
- Black Artist Database has become an invaluable resource since transforming from a group spreadsheet in 2020 to a Bandcamp sub-site to its own platform with an editorial arm and mix series—all meant to highlight and support Black artists around the world. Now it becomes a record label, kicking off with a strong compilation EP that showcases the wide variety of sounds, voices and personalities that have coalesced around the project.
Synergy begins with one of the best tracks yet from Manchester's AFRODEUTSCHE, a beautiful, jungle-influenced cut with a "Porcelain"-style string sweep and elegant harpsichord. It sounds both massive and weightless at the same time. Lyric Hood delivers a rigid techno track with microscopic vocal cuts—it's soulful and skeletal, like a main stage festival banger reduced down to its barest elements. DJ Holographic's dubby techno track, "Desire," focuses on more sensual delights, blending a raw Midwest style (and a vocal hook worthy of Aaron-Carl) with widescreen pads and a synth lead that echoes into oblivion.
The other cuts sit in between genres, like Amaliah's "Mespo Dance," a Hyperdub-style jam that balances double-time UK funky-ish drums over sharp stabs of bass, and a typically brilliant turn from rRoxymore, whose stuttering percussive cut "We Can't Do" sounds completely discombobulated, as if held together by a thread. NIKS's "Badness Can't Work" is a fascinating hybrid of UK dance music and East Coast club, with a totally original swagger and unpredictable, shadowboxing snares, all over a zig-zagging bassline that holds the track together. Things finish off with a warm Afro house cut from Chmba, who hybridises the sound with a more UK approach (the hi-hat work is especially amazing). Each artist has their own distinct personality, and each adds something new to the genres they're working with, making Synergy a fascinating and impressive cross-section of some of the best dance music being made today.
Tracklist01. AFRODEUTSCHE - A New Love
02. rRoxymore - We Can Do
03. Amaliah - Mespo Dance
04. NIKS - Badness, Can't Work
05. Lyric - Don't Need No Help
06. DJ Holographic - Desire
07. Chmba - Bwela