YOUTH serve the club with heavyweight chops by Kampala’s Authentically Plastic and Paris’ Emma DJ & Toma Kami to set the label’s 2022 schedule on the bad foot. Scanning the contemporary dancehall for wayward mutations, ‘Y16TH’ hails the “free form femme f uckery” of Authentically Plastic for their first shot beyond Nyege Nyege Tapes’ celebrated comp ‘L’Esprit De Nyege 2020’, while producer-of-the-moment Emma DJ displays their mutability beside fellow Paris native Toma Kami. It’s a surefire switch from YOUTH’s run of long players in 2021, giving the contemporary club what it needs with two template-crumpling takes that rove around the edges of dancehall science. Authentically Plastic pit the queered club sound of Kampala on ‘Strakka’, hammering out a martial sort of Congo tekno woodblock tattoo in the bone rattling percolations and sweltering industrial clangour of ‘Strakka’ - a strong tip for fans of Crystalmess and Slikback. On the flipside Emma DJ follows their mixtape for UIQ and a VTSS hook-up on a more squashed collaboration with Livity Sound’s Toma Kami, nimbly stepping in the cracks between grime and new Central African styles with sharp-cut but warped cyberdub tekkerz. The deadliest YOUTH in a hot minute. • Limited edition, split 12” from YOUTH • 200 copies only • Screenprinted centre labels, black disco bag