Pain Management Vinyl & CDs

Review: London's DJ Ojo makes a strong debut on Pain Management with a shape-shifting 12" of heady, system-ready dub music. Known for his murky and slow-burning take on the form, Ojo takes things deeper here. 'Tongue Tied' rides out on pitch-black sub pressure and a ghosted vocal loop, evoking that half-asleep state between the dance and the walk home. 'Oil Dub' warps percussive elements into a cavern of melted delays and filtered hiss - almost ASMR in its abstraction. On the flip, 'Cloud Suck' stretches out into a near ten-minute reverie: digidub's emotional potential pushed to its outermost edge, sun-bleached, swirling and strangely hopeful. It's that rare kind of low-end music that plays just as well from a stack as it does through headphones, carrying a woozy emotional undertow that feels both bruised and comforting. A masterclass in restraint from one of London's most low-key original voices.