Closing out 2015 for Ed Banger Records, Mr. Oizo delivers three classic tracks with Hand in The Fire EP. This release returns Mr. Oizo to Ed Banger Records for the first time since 2013, when he contributed tracks to Ed Banger X and put out the Marilyn Manson featured Amicalement EP.
In the intervening year, Mr. Oizo, aka Quentin Dupieux, has kept himself busy with a number of projects; releasing a new EP with Boys Noize (under their Handbraekes moniker), a full album on the Flying Lotus spearheaded label Brainfeeder, and putting out his sixth feature length film Reality.
Uncharacteristically for Mr. Oizo, the title track Hand in the Fire prominently features a vocalist, in this case rising pop singer Charli XCX. Charli XCX is no stranger to unconventional beatsmiths, collaborating with PC Music affiliated SOPHIE on her upcoming album in addition to previously cutting tracks with Cashmere Cat and Alex Metric. She also credited Ed Banger Records as a major influence on her first album True Romance, additionally attributing Uffie as “the first artist that I was completely inspired by”.
Featuring additional writing credit from Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyaytt and MNDR, Charli XCX’s abrasive ‘no holds barred’ vocal style perfectly heightens Oizo’s quirky aggressive beats that makes an unlikely pair shine brightly.
In addition to including an instrumental of Hand in the Fire, the EP also features two mind melding vocal-less tracks. A Rekurd, previously scheduled to be released as a bonus track on the Japanese version of The Church that did not come to fruition, merges Oizo’s warped instrumentation with elements of 90’s house tracks (from a Roule-esque endlessly looped vocal and disco sirens).
Being Flat, which recently featured in a short film Mr. Oizo made as a part of Red Bull’s Paris Now! program, is a slower jam with loud kicks and indistinguishable samples that make the bread and butter of Oizo’s work.