Tomaga - Extended Play 1 and 2

Tragically, there are to be no more new Tomaga records. Thankfully what Tom Relleen and Valentina Magaletti created together remains rich enough to demand repeated visits - it's an astonishingly prolific body of work given it covered a relatively short eight year period. Hands in the Dark, a long term partner of the duo, tie-up a few loose ends in that wide catalogue by issuing the two Extended Play EPs as one complete set, and with it bringing the second EP to vinyl for the first time. EPs are a strangely overlooked format, generally ignored by the press and undersold, but often a vital research ground for acts looking to segue into their next phase. The latter proves very much the case for Tomaga, both collections arriving not long before the release of their final, remarkable record, Intimate Immensity (more on that shortly). Alone or together, they number amongst their best works, a colliding force of rhythmic intensity and ingenuity, and venturing electronics that dovetail in the lesser traversed outer-spaces of jazz, krautrock, industrial and experimental composition, as much Ash Ra as Pharoah as Luc Ferrari. Essential, compelling and necessary as ever, really.