- Dense, percussive club music from the Himalayas.
- Prasidha Singh Yonzon is one of the torchbearers keeping Kathmandu's dance music community alive. The Nepali capital has a small but strong community of underground nightlife players who champion colourful club mutations—promoters like Surge, Spektrum and the four-year-old festival Grasslands. Yonzon is part of the latter two. As a DJ, he's a regular fixture on the scene, and since his debut EP in 2020, his productions have hit a sweet spot of crispy 2-step and atmospheric breakbeat. His latest offering, for Modeselektor's SSPB label, is his clubbiest yet. Blending glitched-out strains of UK bass music, from mutant garage to broken techno, Body Rock demonstrates A-grade percussive proficiency via four low-end delicacies, each one a main course in itself.
Like his previous records, Body Rock has a spacious touch–there's plenty of breathing rooom for every element, no matter how choppy the waters get. There's a newfound sense of precision and power to Yonzon's combination of mood-setting details and peak-time sounds. Take the title track, the EP's fastest and most experimental cut. A techno-footwork hybrid of sorts, thudding drums cut through a disorienting collage of twitchy synths and bleeps. There's a lot going on here but Yonzon manages to make it work. On opener "Smoke and Mirrors," UK garage-style basslines puncture looped samples of the Nepali folk song "Jhim Jhim Saanu." The skittery pace makes the track feel like it's spasming for all of its near-five-minute duration. The vibrations continue on "Deuce" as squelchy drums intensify, moving swiftly despite the weight of the FX and the atmosphere around them.
Dense yet aerodynamic, Body Rock is Yonzon's most well-paced and fluid record yet. It packs pressure, punch and introspective touches that make him a key name to watch out for in South Asia's fast-growing club circuit.
Tracklist01. Smoke And Mirrors
02. Headshot
03. Deuce
04. Body Rock