Evolutions & Revolutions by Tom Esselle

Whilst the name Tom Esselle may be new to many - for those in the know, Tom has been a pivotal figure in the South East London scene for over 15 years. Tom broke onto the scene as part of the formative Wholemeal collective, booking floating points in 2009 in a 200 cap basement club and hosting regular events for the next decade whose lineups read like a who’s who of the London underground scene.

Tom made his indelible mark on the subculture of Peckham when he opened YAM records with brother in arms Theodor. If you’ve ever been to a Rhythm Section NYE dance, you’ve seen these two play back to back for the midnight countdown. It has become a tradition- and for good reason. These two DJ’s and collectors at the very peak of their powers opened a record store which, along with the Local Radio platform Balami - gave a space to the nascent scene emerging at that time. The bricks and mortar provided a foundation for many key talents to flourish - not least Chaos in the CBD - whose early releases on YAM alongside those on Rhythm Section INTL were crucial to their early successes. Factor in the now classic album from Brit award Winning Ezra Collective Keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones and Maxwell Owin “idiom” , Romal Kultaan ( of Lemon Lounge infamy and you have something of a local hit factory.
‘ Employee of the month’ Beans ( chaos in the cbd) was taken under the wing of the Yam founder in the early days and the pair have since formed a special bond. With Beans having conquered the globe with his aforementioned project, he honourably returned the favour - helping Tom refine his production with engineering tips and Studio time. It sounds like Tom might have reached his 10,000 hours: it’s now his time to shine.

Tom makes the kind of house music I wish I could make myself. It’s rooted in organic grooves, latin percussion and warm synths. Textures hover around bold basslines that do exactly what they are intended to do. The music is precise but groovy, it’s arresting but never obnoxious. It’s confident, it’s direct - not too brash but nor is it selling itself short or just sitting in the groove. The songs evolve, mutate, swell and contract- all in the name of maximum dancefloor destruction.

If you like Classy, forward thinking house music with one foot in the golden era of tech house and another in contemporary soulful compositions then this EP is for you.