P037 – DJ LYCOX – Lycoxera

Vinyl EP / Digital
Written and produced by DJ Lycox;
Mastered by Tó Pinheiro da Silva, Artwork by Márcio Matos;
Released October, 2021.

VINYL/DIGITAL: Order from us

A1 – Eu Mbora Dou Bue Show
A2 – Rapaz Sinistro
A3 – Southside
B1 – Yoga
B2 – Wildin
B3 – Momentos Únicos

PRESS RELEASE

The highly prolific Lycox doesn’t hide his confidence: the vocal mantra in “Eu Mbora Dou Bue Show” declares his artistry to be at its peak. A reinforced kick in the beat signals a return to the club, and we all know what that means at the end of 2021. The first proper club night feels like AN OCCASION.

“Rapaz Sinistro” is just full-on beat science, firm on the floor, as “Southside” blurs the line between city and jungle, a true walk on the wild side. Very cinematic trash can-turning party vibe.
The flipside begins deep underground with an afro killer tune: “Yoga” is the only track here under 3 minutes and the duration certainly fits its sense of urgency. In contrast, “Wildin” stretches over the 5-minute line, always left of centre, an introspective afrohouse banger. Heads down in profound dancing. Then, a hugely classic Lycox melodic excursion making use of the traditional “latas” batida percussion. It picks you up and carries you off into the deep and wide horizon.

Vinyl 12″; individually hand-painted sleeve, 500 copies available for the world.

Um prometido disco de bangers de DJ Lycox, após as kizombas espaciais em “Kizas Do Ly”, e a apresentação é do próprio: “Já sabes como eu sou, eu mbora dou bué show”. Abertura viva para um EP de seis faixas de clube em linha afrohouse particular, ainda com a batida de lata a ser estrela onde em mãos menores podiam existir só beats quadrados. Pontuações inusitadas em faixas como “Rapaz Sinistro” e “Yoga” reforçam uma assinatura que o underground já vai conhecendo de produções avulsas de Lycox. Ciência de composição bem apurada, neste Portugal independente até de nós, num curso de evolução e apuro que mantém o produtor (de momento baseado em Inglaterra) numa vanguarda da dança. E o toque romântico de Lycox, em partes iguais escola antiga e nova escola, sai bem aparente em “Momentos Únicos”, faixa de resolução de emoções que pode pender para qualquer dos lados da balança.
Flur, October 2021

As part of Tia Maria Produções and with his solo shots, DJ Lycox has been a vital player on Lisbon’s finest label since 2014. The ‘Lycoxera’ session leads on from the beatdown kizomba tempo of his ‘Kizas do Ly’ (2020) EP with a return to the quicker meter of his sought-after debut album ’Sonhos & Pesadelos’ (2017), giving the club what it needs as feet return to the ‘floor in late 2021 to dance their worries away.

Cherry-picked by the label from Lycox’s prolific studio output, the EP’s six tracks surely represent a clarion call to the rave, but finely balance a sense of urgency with more tentative, melancholic pathos that smartly reads the room. From its nervy but insistent opening vocal declaration of back to business on the ‘Eu Mbora Dou Bue Show’, thru the breezy lilt of his keys and quizzical top lines in ‘Momentos Unicos’ Lycox coaxes rather than demands, with deeply persuasive results.

The intricate beat science of ‘Rapaz Sinistro’ is bound to snag bodies in its swingeing syncopation of log drums and plucked bass motifs echoing Amapiano styles, while the haughty jack of ’Southside’ follows with immersive soundsphere of water sounds, trumpeting elephants and eagle squawks that transport the city to a jungle mindset. ‘Yoga’ is a standout 3 minutes of deep Afrohouse pressure, eazing tensely infectious drums with coolly poised chords, and ‘Wildin’ is the most concentrated, deeply technoid example of DJ Lycox’s urgent but furtive appeal on what is set to be a definitive solo EP.
Boomkat, November 2021

With just two solo records under his belt, DJ Lycox has become one of the darlings of the Princípe roster. Last year’s Kizas do Ly was a real head-turner, throwing a light on kizomba, a leisurely, romantic style of music that highlighted a new potential for elegance and melody in the Lisbon club sound. A year later he returns with LYCOXERA, a six-track EP that expands his sound by combining the delicacy of the kizomba work woth the rowdy rhythms of his 2017 EP. Then Lycox adds the swagger and low-end heft of Afro house, hinting towards a new style altogether that hints at only new paths for Princípe to go down. One listen to “Yoga” and you’ll know what I mean—there’s a certain thrust and spaciousness to the groove, allowing Lycox’s signature tumbling melodies to ride the groove in a very different way.. The opener “Eu Mbora Dou Bue Show” has a string-led stagger (and rambling vocal) that looks to gqom, while “Rapaz Sinistro” is a delightfully funky array of percussive sounds all plunking out their own path, like an ensemble of mallet players each playing a different rhythm. “Southside” and “Momentos Únicos” have a touch of older Lycox to them, and the former’s zany bounce and punch-drunk breakdown—it sounds like the track is stumbling around confused—mirrors the anything-goes glee of the earliest Príncipe records. The most promising track is “Wildin,” whose dark textures and fussy but fantastic use of reverb and delay—so that some synths sound like water droplets falling to the ground—borrow tropes from techno, both Afro and otherwise. Lycox’s discography has always been a synthesis of the influences around him, whether that was UK club music, Lisbon or Paris, and with LYCOXERA he takes on the sounds of the wider diaspora for an EP that’s both fearsome and exquisite.
Resident Advisor, November 2021

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