Launching onto the scene in 2015 with his Jah EP on Subtitles, Friction’s Shogun Audio was quick to snag a ride for a number of exclusive releases in the years that followed. Since then his music has attracted substantial attention. Not just due to his creative talent, but because each track he dreams up is a unique un-referenced body of work, often spanning a wide variety of influences and consistently pushing the perimeter of Bass.

The Shaker EP on Unchained is both a ‘banging’ and sophisticated melting pot of Footwork, Rave and Drum’n’Bass. When asked what he felt about the project, he explained he was incredibly happy to be returning to his original sound.

Whilst the title track is the EP’s warehouse four-to-the-floor Molotov, it is yet punctured with enough syncopated rhythms, vocal funk and menacing sonics for it to be a proper piece of mutant art. “Weasel”, like The Shaker, adheres to the school of explosive, but heads into tasteful tribal territory. “The Walk” then veers off script with luscious jazz, melody and intelligent meanderings of fragmented juke.

Whilst all three tracks stand as a cohesive whole on their own, to spice the dish, China’s Radiax offers up another of his energising rollers with his remix of The Walk.

Re-igniting his original pioneering sound, we welcome Was A Be to the Unchained family.