Premiere: Ocirala ‘The Day I Didn’t Graduate From Uni’

Tasha’s Neighbourhood label will release a new EP from Ocirala this month. Listen to ‘The Day I Didn’t Graduate From Uni’ below.

The imprint’s first release of 2025 is a four-track suite of thundering, no-nonsense techno. Released under the anonymous alias of a well-established DJ and producer, the EP’s title, ‘Just A Little  Bit Longer’, nods to how long it took these tracks to finally get an official release. As the accompanying text on Bandcamp explains: “The obsession with ‘The Day I Didn’t Graduate From Uni’ and ‘Just a Little Bit Longer’ lasted over 4 years until Ocirala agreed that the world needs to hear and play these fantastic tunes!”

The obsession is understandable. These tracks are tailor-made to do damage on dark dancefloors, and will work just as hard on a battered basement soundsystem as they will over a big room rig. ‘The Day I Didn’t Graduate From Uni’ – nicknamed “the rabbit tune” – opens the EP with pounding kicks and a bouncy interplay of vocal snatches, snares and hi-hats. Tough as nails, but with enough lightness to keep limbs swinging.

The full EP will be released on 15th August. Pre-order it here.

Tasha’s Neighbourhood party – from which the label grew – is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year with a string of parties. Oli Warwick recently caught up with the London underground champion to talk about her own history as a DJ, the evolution of Neighbourhood, the peaks and troughs of promoting, her friendship with the late Marcus Intalex, and more. She also served up a stellar sample of her craft for DJ Mag’s Recognise mix series, recorded at a recent residency night at Open Ground in Wuppertal. Read the interview and listen to the mix here.