Happy New Year, Labrats! It's already looking a lot like last year (the first two blurbs I get assigned are from Institubes and Kitsune, shocka!) but maybe there's room for this crazy popular Frenchie electronic shit to stick around while 2007's fads come and go. I don't even wanna think of the new "genre" names we'll be confronted with this year. But I digress: this new EP comes courtesy of the Institubes label, which has found some international fans thanks to Para One's major "Dudun-Dun." Surkin is yet another young Parisian hotshot, and in addition to the original production here, he's remixed such folk as DJ Mehdi, Boys Noize, Klaxons and Teki Latex. The EP's title track appears here twice: once as the demo style "Beta Version(1)" and again as the updated "Ghetto Obsession 2006(2)." While the beta version feels less layered and (dare I say?) softer, the 2006 version bangs HARD with heavy house kicks, chopped up demon vocals and synth blurts that'll blow your head back like the Maxell dude. Also includes the more mellow "And You Too(3)."

reviewed by Chris Lemon-Red