When The Dare’s first single “Girls” dropped last year, New York was at the height of its indie renaissance. The electro artist also known as Harrison Patrick Smith became its poster child, his name plastered onto every Downtown line-up alongside the likes of The Hellp and Frost Children. His name is synonymous with the sort of zeitgeisty, post-Dimes Square-adjacent parties thrown by Perfectly Imperfect and frequented by Meg Superstar Princess, with obligatory photographs by The CobraSnake (Smith also runs his own weekly Frequencies night). The fans are New York’s creative milieu – the terminally online, thinkfluencers, models, artists and meme page admins, who hang around Canal Street and shop at Lucky Jewel. 

The Sex EP is Smith’s debut EP, and his first release on a major record label. Featuring singles “Girls” and “Good Time”, the four-track record is everything we’ve come to expect from the 27-year-old, whose tracks fizz with the sleazy hedonism of being young and free. New song “Sex” goes further into Smith’s horny sexcapades, with robotic vocals over a grooving electro beat. “I think I had it once/I think I had a bunch,” he sings, before admitting: “I might even finish it way too quick.” As for closing track “Bloodwork”, Smith deters from his usual antics, opting instead for a four-minute techno clanger with no vocals minus the occasional reverbed sample. “I just wanted to write something funny and true about my relationship to sex,” he said in a statement. “It’s also the most time-honoured and classic theme of rock and roll, so I had to do it. The other, less horny songs are coming later.”

Elsewhere, post-punk trio Bar Italia release their third album, Kesha returns with a triumphant new record, and Animé and KAYTRANADA team up as KAYTRAMINÉ.

BAR ITALIA, TRACEY DENIM

DANIEL AVERY, MORE TRUTH

KAYTRAMINÉ, KAYTRAMINÉ

KESHA, GAG ORDER

THE DARE, THE SEX EP