Battle Zone, by Elmoe

Battle Zone by Elmoe, released 14 March 2025 1. Bangin Vox 2. The Show Arrived 3. Come Back 4. Yes I Do 5. This Way 6. BouG 7. It's Hot 8. The Baker 9. Wayne Train 10. Ina Rain 11. Wander Nights 12. Give It To Em 13. Tryin Too Hard 14. Turn My Head 15. Battle Zone DJ Elmoe is 32 Year old Chicago-born Johnathan Tapp, who excels in a unique, hazy, almost chopped-and-screwed take on footwork. It's often built around frayed jazz and soul loops, slowed down to breaking point, sometimes mid-track, which crash into each other and create their own strange polyrhythmic logic which Elmoe tempers and enlivens with crisp footwork beats. There's often murky dialogue looping and repitched throughout the stew too. Where a lot of footwork is laser-focused and futuristic, Elmoe's is almost intuitive and acoustic, more aligned to '70s loft jazz recordings shot through with the hallucinatory haze of 2010s hypnagogic pop.  Initially he came to music deeply inspired by house and jazz, but moved through footwork, first as a dancer and later, from 2005 as a producer. Of his style he confirms "I have an offset-style. I like to change the dynamic of things in an unorthodox way but you'll feel good about it. I mainly look for melodies that are parallel to how it makes me feel at that time."   The eponymous track and first single 'Battle Zone' lets a spacey lead synth roll out gracefully across hypnotic drums and a repeating vocal, until the track and the vocal loop through several drops in pitches. Second single 'Ina Rain' runs crushed Delphonic samples through various discordant pitches, ending on a woodwind sample, while 'Wander Nights' sound is markedly different, like something Actress might make, re-tuned for Footwork specifics. Lock yourself into the sound.