Premiere: Valerie Ace ‘Slay’

Valerie Ace will release a new EP, ‘Strass & Stress’, via Intrepid Skin this month. Have an exclusive first listen to ‘Slay’ below.

Returning to the SPFDJ-founded imprint for the first time since dropping her debut EP (‘Glitzer Vs Hass’) last January, Ace serves up four new cuts of pulverising hard dance and techno.

The Berlin-based producer – who already kicked off the year with a release for Irish label Mála Ádh – wastes no time getting up to speed, layering hard kicks beneath burrowing synths and frenzied alarms on opener ‘Taking A Risk’.

Track two ‘Slay’ is similarly incisive with the addition of warped FX and a menacing acid squelch, whilst B1 ‘Anxious not Afraid’ mixes up the tempo for a dark and dizzying take on psytrance. 

‘How To Fit In’ – a searing hard drum workout with industrial touches –bookends the project, on which the German producer expands her meticulous approach to production into increasingly off-kilter territories.

In 2022, Ace launched her own label, Hardwon, featuring releases from the likes of Ryan James Ford, BIIA, New Frames, Nara, and more, as well as the 2023 V/A compilation, ‘HARDWON005’.

Pre-order the EP here, and have an exclusive first listen to ‘Slay’ below.