I love peng tings. I love leng tings. And I love listening to dubstep with the mandem. That’s what I tell everyone non-stop when I’m feeling British, and Monitors, the latest EP from New York City producer VOOR via French Tabloid, makes me feel that way immediately. Certain elements of the EP, namely its approach to sampling, continue from the artist’s recent mix with 445.world radio, only transposed onto a darker, more hectic groove. The opening track “Pineapple” is this dense mixture of pulsing basses, sirens, screams, and chopped up vocals. The tracks on this project stretch the squelch of the bass to its furthest point just before breaking—it makes sense that it’s called Monitors, because my phone speaker sitting in an empty glass is only able to convey the EP’s sound so well. That fact makes me want to hit the pub and glass the first arsehole who steps to me.

The project functions as a continuation of the artist’s v011 EP from 2022. VOOR has recently been reflecting upon the genesis of their producing practice, which began 15 years ago with a dubstep track. What you’re listening to isn’t nostalgia, but tradition and craft pushed to its maximum volume, immaculately layered and sequenced. The album’s closer, “USP 9MM,” is an exceptional work, with its punchy bass punctuated by dancefloor grunts cut up into perfection. A muffled vocal track ushers you through the ending—all I could make out was “be careful,” at which point I decided it’d be better to find some monitors, instead of glassing a random charva.