After a pretty productive lockdown, booty music mega-fan Phrixus has emerged from his studio armed with a 4-track of bassy, funk-infused heaters getting released later this month. Through various bootleg packs he’s put together and slipped to mates to his new ‘Strict Indulgence’ show on Threads Radio, he’s been digging deep into 80s funk for the best part of a decade now. On his new XXX Rated EP, the Devon-via-London producer boils funk tracks down to their most integral elements and rebuilds them as modern, club-ready productions that still retain a vintage essence.

“Jus’ Dreamin” opens up XXX Rated in true, funky style. A blend of big guitar licks, synth stabs and soft pad sounds make for quite the dreamy start before giving way to a rich, head-bopping groove. Phrixus’ ear for dynamics really comes through on this track; it ebbs and flows from sections with thick-as-hell synth leads to sparse breakdowns featuring endlessly echoed vox samples.

Next up, “You’re the One” aims squarely for dance-floor functionality with a pumping 4x4 beat and synth lines weirdly reminiscent of those found in Sheffield bassline. The resulting tune ends up sounding slightly like Numbers signee Redinho if he decided to make a straight-up house record.

On “Party Poops”, Phrixus ups the tempo considerably with a frantic collage of noise gated samples and dizzying harmonics. Processing splices of vocals and guitar twangs beyond recognition, the production has the uncanny effect of channelling funk nostalgia whilst also feeling other-worldly; like something out of a nightclub scene from a sci-fi film set within a Martian colony.

Closing things out is “I Been Missin U”; a softer, more emotive track sampling none other than Kashif’s 1984 classic, “I’ve Been Missin’ You”. It might not be as lairy as it’s predecessors, but this reworked ballad still has plenty of groove worked into the track’s backbone.

In his own words, the intention behind Phrixus’ output is to make “funk music but in the most claustrophobic, laboratory-esque sense of it.” With the songs of XXX Rated - he’s certainly beginning to realise this goal.