Flex Time by 96 Back

Following March’s 9696 Dream, Sheffield’s ascendant star 96 Back announces his second in a trilogy of 2021 releases for Local Action.

As the name suggests, Flex Time is a more club-tooled EP than 9696 Dream, with several 808-driven tracks in the 140-150bpm range, including 96 Back’s first ever vocal collaborations with Toronto rapper Cadence Weapon and Manchester’s Iceboy Violet.

That’s not to say that Flex Time is without its tender moments, however: the aforementioned Cadence Weapon collaboration ‘Coup de Grace’ closes with a dreamy instrumental synth coda, while ‘Tired Angel’ takes a bassline reminiscent of classic grime, but shoots it through a honey-smeared lens, resulting in something closer to Galaxie 500 than Bow E3.