When EVL Tom’s ‘Absolute Melt’ album was released by Out Yer Box — the sister label to Irvine Welsh’s Jack Said What — in March earlier this year, it was greeted with pretty much universal acclaim.

It’s an album where Moodymann-esque Detroit soul flavours meet the psychedelic rave stylings of early Future Sound Of London, the raw but incessantly funky loops of hip-hop producers Madlib and The RZA rub up against the bass aesthetic of early ‘90s jungle/drum & bass. Its artful combination of smokey beatscapes, agrarian trip-hop, breaks-fuelled disco-funk and badass hip-hop beats have already marked it out as a standout album for 2025.

The LP is already being spoken about in some quarters as appearing on leftfield end of year ‘best of’ lists. It’s one to check if you missed it the first time around, or revisit now to remember how good it really is.

Now come the ‘Absolute Melt’ remixes from some of Tom’s friends and associates. In no particular order, London-based Vas Mentis takes the looped mantra of ‘Incendies’ and twists it into a rolling breakbeat powerdriver. October dubs out ‘Give Up (Don’t)’ into a pared back, clattering percussive beast, with haunting echoes and crunchy claps breaking through at opportune moments.

Bjork collaborator Damian Taylor turns the gorgeous first single from the EVL Tom album — the blissful, slightly psychedelic ‘The Heathers’ — into a main set breakbeat missive that makes fine use of the chiming arpeggiated bell refrain, ravey synths and woozy Orb-like female vocal sample. Next up, the Drum Monkeys — Bill Borez and Carl Loben — make a welcome return to the scene with their overhaul of ‘Give Up (Don’t)’, a tasty slab of disco-funk house music that foregrounds the Studio 54 vibes before elevating the topline and dropping down into a cheeky breakbeat interlude. Don’t be caught out by the slo-mo ending on this one when coming out of the mix!

Finally, ST177 shapes the shuffly ‘Eternal Lids’ into a glitch-hop piece perfect for any wonky after-hours moment.

These mixes tickle the externals of ‘Absolute Melt’ and take fresh inspiration from some surprising quarters, providing food for a variety of different dancefloors. The source material on offer is rich, and these remixes match the quality of the original album. You’d have to be an absolute melt not to check them out!