Ossie Ignore EP
The East London-based Ossie hasn’t been the most prolific producer over the past two years, […]
The East London-based Ossie hasn’t been the most prolific producer over the past two years, but when he does release tracks, he sure makes them count. With last year’s “Tarantula” and “Set the Tone”—his biggest tracks to date—Ossie has established himself as an artist concerned with little else than the dancefloor, and Ignore again proves that his neon-touched synths and breaking snares and claps make for some of the most fun and infectious dance music coming from the UK at the moment.
Despite its borderline misogynistic—but perfectly delivered—vocal performance (courtesy of fellow Londoner Tilz), the EP’s title track would be a welcome presence in most any house/garage-leaning mix. Bouncing just below 130 bpm, “Ignore” shows off Ossie’s rhythmic prowess as he crafts a beat somewhere between a shuffle and a break while incoporating a handful of snare rolls and stutters to give it just a touch of funky swing. The featured vocalist appears only twice on the five-plus-minute track, leaving the lazer-sharp chords and simple bassline plenty of room to carry the song; it’s a wise decision, as the playful back-and-forth rhythm they lock into is almost impossible to, well, ignore. It all makes for one of those songs that is equal parts disarming and effective on the floor, and one that’s likely to get even the most stoic of onlookers to start grooving along.
Strangely enough, the first four bars of the EP’s only other track, “Find It,” sound like the beginning of a lost Homework-era Daft Punk song, as Ossie arranges filtered chords and vocals into a catchy procession. The Londoner again comes up with a beat that simultaneously shuffles and breaks, pairing it with a syncopated bassline and—of all things—an almost Balearic guitar line that fills in the track every so often. The jewel of “Find It” comes around the five-minute mark, when Ossie stops holding back and unleashes a perfectly assembled barrage of rolling snares, which carries the track to its end.
It’s safe to say that Ossie’s craft is not rocket science, but with Ignore as the latest example of his handiwork, it is clear that the Londoner’s brand of dance music is also far from formulaic, not to mention consistently effective.