There was little to no doubt that slimepunk DJ risik was going to serve up a handful of songs that could annihilate any dance floor with their first official project. Their debut EP, STILL BORING, was put out by Oakland-based record label Wormhole Music Group last month and serves up very intricate, extremely antagonistic genre-pushing bass music. Over seven tracks – six original songs and one remix – pushed up and down between different levels of screeching synths, bombastic bass hits, and campy horror, this EP will lift you up, bring you down, and set you straight in 20 minutes time. 

If you’re not immediately transported to a warehouse club within the first few seconds of “MACHINE,” risik will get you there soon; don’t worry. The eclectic mix of harsh sounds that fans were introduced on the 2018 lead single “BORING” are both a staple of the DJ’s slimepunk aesthetic and all of these STILL BORING songs. Punishing 808 hits, horror-core sampling, and glitchy laughs and screams are just a few of the themes that are carried out throughout the EP. Still, risik keeps it fresh by reinventing new ways to present and push these ideas from track to track. An assortment of clangy, aggressive, and forward-thinking sounds are thrown our way via “MACHINE.” It’s an album you’ll want to buckle down, for sure.

The themes of surviving abuse and manipulation – which the DJ listed in a description on their Bandcamp page – are embedded in each song but presented to us in different tones. The clearest example of this is the transition from “GUCCI” to “KREEP,” where the first can be implied in a way that buying fancy things for a partner – “So I bought her Gucci” – is a form of material manipulation, while the latter is a darker tales of possibly the side effects of exploitation. “KREEP” starts off with a sample that proclaims, “Sometimes I feel like killing myself and other times I’m happy and want to live forever.” Being under an abusive partner’s control can most definitely manifest these feelings.

risik – STILL BORING by risik

STILL BORING’s most valuable asset to me was that it kept bringing me back with increased enthusiasm. If I wanted to get up during a mid-day slump, I turned on “BROOTAL.” If I was going for a late-night walk, “KREEP” was the move. And “MACHINE” is one of the most hook-line-and-sinker leading tracks I’ve come across in reviewing releases this year. The turn of the album, “DESIRE,” will put you in the mindset of only wanting to be in a Matrix-style club. “GUCCI” will have you questioning the world around you. It’s all in the risik slimepunk style, though. This is most definitely consistent throughout.

Before the EP wraps up, we’re treated with a remix of “BORING” by I Broke My Robot, which we now hear in a much more clanky light. It’s an ironic ending to an ironically titled EP. risik’s STILL BORING is anything but. It’s a dime a dozen to come across a DJ as inventive as them. It takes a lot of fishing and waiting, though. Most artists are worth the wait, and even though risik has always been throwing down from festivals to clubs, they were not holding anything back with this official release.