With “Hakuna EP”, Essex-based producer and DJ Joolmad cements his reputation as one of the UK’s most compelling new voices in the ever-evolving Minimal and Tech-House underground. Known for his trippy, loop-driven grooves that fuse subtle psychedelia with a punchy rhythmic core, Joolmad’s debut on London imprint SHIBUI showcases a producer operating with precision, personality, and playfulness – traits that have already earned him releases on labels like Gene On Earth’s TSOL (via Limousine Dream), PILLZ (Partisan’s offshoot curated by Anthea and Velasco), and Stampo. His sound, hazy but focused, continues to thread that delicate line between floor energy and sonic imagination.
“Hakuna” opens the EP with swagger and swing – a funky, low-slung house cut where needle-flicking scratch samples meet a bassline built for modern dancefloors. There’s a contagious looseness to it, a groove that nods to both electro-house and HipHop sensibilities without ever slipping into parody. Joolmad manages to sound of the moment while dodging its clichés, delivering a track that feels fresh, tactile, and joyfully unpolished – the kind of tune that sneaks into your head long after the night ends.
“Run The Track” follows with a dubwise, tribal pulse. Reggae-inflected vocal chops echo through a maze of hypnotic loops, carried by rubbery bass and crisp percussion. It’s a tune that recalls the dusty warmth of West Coast Deep House – think Jay Tripwire’s halcyon days – but with Joolmad’s distinctly modern touch: tighter drums, sharper transitions, and a confident sense of restraint. The track’s rhythm doesn’t demand attention; it earns it.
The B-side opens with “Hanky Panky”, perhaps the strangest and most seductive of the bunch. A paranoid yet elegant afterhours groove, it layers lush pads, wooden percussion, and elastic drum programming into something deeply physical but subtly unsettling. There’s tension in its repetition – a sense that the track could tip either into bliss or delirium – and that ambiguity is exactly where its magic lies. It’s intelligent, functional, and beautifully unhinged all at once.
Finally, Jhobei’s “Melodic Matata Mix” of “Hakuna” flips the original’s swagger into something grander and more expansive. Jhobei sharpens the drums and injects a melodic build that flirts with big-room sensibilities – a brave move that somehow feels perfectly in step with SHIBUI’s ethos of contrast and curiosity. What might sound incongruous on paper turns into a lush, emotive reinterpretation that closes the record on a surprisingly cinematic note.
Across “Hakuna EP”, Joolmad proves that groove doesn’t have to mean predictability. His tracks move with the confidence of a seasoned producer but carry the curiosity of someone still searching – always tweaking, always pushing the loop a little further. It’s an EP that captures the restless energy of the UK’s new wave: inventive, grounded, and unafraid to get weird on the dancefloor.
Words by Pasha Pliskin
Torture the Artist 