OMAAR - Drum Temple (2021)

Punishingly heavy, groove-fwd drumtrax that lift the spirit of UK funky, gqom and dembow, shaping familiar sounds into a hybrid Latin club shuffle that defies categorization. Basically, it f*cking bangs.

Mexico City's Omar Suárez has long been N.A.A.F.I's secret weapon, and his debut full-length only proves this further. On "Drum Temple" he wears his influences on his sleeve, sculpting them expertly into a vibrant, cohesive sound that spotlights the sparkling ore mined from a seam where house and hardcore co-exist peacefully.

Uk funky never really went anywhere, but here those beloved percussive patterns sound energized, injected with new flavor. Opener 'Jungla' proves this immediately, with hand drum grooves circling a pounding 4/4 and gqom's unmissable sequence of rushes and slams. 'Drum Dance' is even better, sliding closer to Scratcha's next level hybridized UK gqom but still retaining a slippery, singular sense of style.

As if a full set of drum workouts wasn't enough, "Drum Temple" comes packaged with three exclusive remixes from N.A.A.F.I's Lao, Nick León and WRACK. Lao turns in a rework of the title track, deconstructing it without losing the groove and signaling a haunted, decaying dystopia; León meanwhile turns down the tempo on 'Traib', accentuating the swing and highlighting the original's asymmetry.