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Live Review: Maxy Cozy embraces the dark side on his EP 'NIGHT SHIFT (It's Not All Smiles)'

24 January 2019 | 10:55 am | Holly O'Neill

Sydney producer MAXY COZY explores moody lo-fi and twitchy breakbeats on his three track EP NIGHT SHIFT (It's Not All Smiles)

Sydney producer MAXY COZY has just dropped his EP NIGHT SHIFT (It's Not All Smiles), switching from bright optimistic rhythms in his earlier releases to three dark takes on breakbeat and lo-fi house. Taking inspiration from big guns like Ross From Friends and DJ Boring, Cozy extrapolates melodic loops to their extremes with the help of analog sequencers, moody sound design and interlocking polyrhythms.

Across the three tracks, classic four to the floor rhythms are out the window, as even its most obvious iterations descend into gorgeous percussive chaos. The title track sets the expectation of a classic Mallgrab-esque house track, sidechaining the whole track to a phat kick and letting it ride. But as the track builds the kick shifts around, skipping beats and repeating others, and relegating the hats to the consistent beat keeper among polyrhythmic keys.

'NITSA 6AM' and 'BREAKBEAT LOVE' follow suit, masking their repeated rhythms under shaky drums and dense bass lines. An imposing level of low end winds its way through the release, huge enough to compete with the jittery breakbeat rhythms. The bright energy of the breakbeats and playful layers of percussion are flipped by the melodies crafted to feel as menacing as possible alongside the bass.

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Maxy Cozy brings a surprising intensity on NIGHT SHIFT (It's Not All Smiles), flipping the expectations of what he can do and matching the classic break beat sample with even more layers of his own percussive design. Among the beat switch ups, fuzzy synthesis and moody melodies he's proving himself to be a diverse talent.

If you like what you hear, be sure to tune into FBi Radio this Saturday arvo where we'll be having Maxy Cozy in for a guest mix.

Photo by Michel Salvia

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