Raise Your Leg, Raise Your Foot And Jump

Mura Masa, aka Alexander Crossan, is another in a long list of artists that have been going for a decade or more and receiving plenty of plaudits and acclaim before this clloth-eared Johnny Come Lately finally cottons on to their music.

What an introduction, though. The Curve +1 EP came out on Friday and every single one of the four tracks is a banger. 

Lead track JUMP was released in March and is an absolute joy, built around a sample from a 30-year old song that I was also ignorant of up to now, the Bajan groove of Hol' Up Ya Foot & Jump by Zulu Lightning aka Dale Husbands and Oscar Michelson Joseph Lovell. And the video, featuring Martha Igbinosa and the incredible Showdem troupe, is glorious.

I'm Really Hot (For Myself) followed in September, with a stuttering sample, heavy riff break and pounding rhythm that had throwing all kinds of ungainly shapes around the kitchen. Best advised not to play this whilst making hot food, otherwise play loud and let loose...!

Another striking video to accompany the music, directed (as all three selections are) by The Reids aka South London siblings Will and Ed. Featuring "pole dancing sensation for hire" Georgina Circus and "absolute showstopper" Jaytheystallion, it offers a refreshing take on the familiar dance studio set up.

Track three, Losing, doesn't have a video (yet), but it's a bass-heavy beast of a track, that teases and then releases an infectious beat, with rippling, bubbling vocal samples dropping in and out. 

The EP closes with the song that I chanced upon on YouTube, Handsup is built around a couple of teasingly familiar samples urging you to "shake ya ass" if you want a good time and to "put your hands in the air like it's a stick up", whilst blending a laidback groove with frenetic beats... and an earworm ringtone. 

On paper, tracks like this should never work, with so much going on, but Handsup works brilliantly. The video warns of flashing imagery and I'll confess that even at a smidge over three minutes, my brain was trying to force it's way out through my eye sockets. The tune however, is spot on.

The Curve +1 EP is available from Bandcamp, Juno and all the usual places in various digital formats and price points. 

The former also offers up the Selected Weapons 2023-2024 EP, released in January as a free download. The four tracks are built on samples and mash-ups of Basement Jaxx, Dave & Central Cee, Ice Spice, Panic! At The Disco, Stardust and The Dare. Individually and collectively, well worth your time.