EP: Helena Hauff – Have you Been there, Have you seen it

Ninja Tune have dropped a new EP from master DJ Helena Hauff, titled ‘Have you been there, Have you seen it’, which finds her building on what she has achieved in the last two years, which, at her core is her commitment to, and innate talent for, the craft of DJing. Acclaimed for her skill and unique selection, her profile has rocketed in the last two years as she has taken on a BBC Radio 1 Residency, delivered her debut BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix, played a legendary B2B set with Ben UFO at Sonar 2017, graced the covers of Crack Magazine, DJ Mag and earned herself the #12 spot in Mixmag’s “Top 20 DJs of 2016”.

Opener Nothing is what I know feinds her in minimal mode, this 808 handclap heavy rhythm taking the lead of the breathless, whispered vocal line, before it kicks in with this spectacular and unsettling synth line that revels in its own awkwardness, pretty much taking over the track completely before breaking down into sound rather than pitch and finishing. Follow on ‘Do you really think like that’ is more muscular, this insistent throbbing bass synth rattling your shoes and false teeth (I don’t know that, but i’m guessing if old people inhabit techno clubs that is the result) with whippy shards of sound and the beats rattling out stripped back 16ths.

Continuez Mon Enfant Vous Serez Traité En Conséquence is slower, bleaker and heavier, the huge throb of the bassline the main focus, as over the top there’s glimpses of acid (or slacker acid maybe) and this sort of quasi trap beats shuffling away underneath. EP closer Gift bubbles and simmers away, with waves of sound thrown over the listener, starting soft before becoming edgy, anxious even. It’s franjly brilliant.

The 12″ black vinyl comes in a yellow speckled paper inner sleeve housed in a 3mm spined outer sleeve with artwork by Carlo Miozzi.