- The Montreal producer ends the year in galloping style.
- Montreal producer Maara is capping off her career-making year with a highly anticipated EP for Kalahari Oyster Cult. Anticipated for one reason: horse. Anyone who's seen Maara DJ since 2021 is probably familiar with the sound of that majestic beast galloping and neighing across the stereo field, an original track that established Maara as someone special—and wonderfully lighthearted—from her very first DJ gigs onwards. Now the horse is out of the bag as the lead track on the excellent Hear Me Neigh EP, which sinks further into trance decadence after the more downtempo strains of her excellent album The Ancient Truth earlier this year. All four cuts are great, but it's "The Horse Track," with its rip-roaring kicks, staccato vocals-as-pads and ominous bass growls, that steals the show. Plus, you know, the horse. The first time the track stops and lets the horse gallop by, it's a what-the-fuck moment. Every other time, it's simply brilliant.