Wrapping up sonically satisfying 2022 with a curveball, Sound of Berlin introduces a multi-instrumentalist and producer YYARD (born Yannis Anft) and his compelling debut ‘Dead Neighbour’s Garden EP’, a release that comes with a darkly comic backstory: “The title was inspired by the view I had from my room while producing these tracks,”Anft explains. “I think my neighbours on the opposite side of the street are doctors or something, cause they had a skeleton positioned right in front of their window.”

Permeated by a hybrid of tongue-in-cheek glitch and post-rave wistfulness, the EP springs to mind the genre-busting ‘Artificial Intelligence’ -compilations of the early 1990s Warp era. The title’s track spectral woodblock bass clangs underneath the skittery electro-funk beat – on the flipside it’s the rippling chords washing over the arpeggios that lend ‘Garden’ its stillness and serenity.

These distinct variations in textures and timbres are what this release constantly gravitates towards. “During the pandemic I wanted to finish a few ideas that have been laying around in my Ableton folder for a while,” Anft recalls. “I was experimenting with different styles and feelings and thought Dead Neighbours and Garden were a good choice to map this variety.”