In fall of 2022, Wisconsin producers Chants and Gator Preserve launched Limited Resources Label. The idea is simple, yet a lot of fun. Producers are given a set of restrictions that are meant to fuel their creativity, and they set off to create an EP given those parameters. The last release came just a month ago from drowt, but now they have come right back with another new release, this time from London producer hmurd.

For his assignment, hmurd was given the restrictions of only using sounds from the Korg M1 piano and that all tracks had to be in a 7⁄4 time signature. This is not the easiest assignment for an inexperienced producer, but from the jump, hmurd demonstrates that he can handle it with ease. He has clearly put in the work to study some music theory, because a 7⁄4 time signature can throw a lot of people who haven’t spent much time outside of your basic 4⁄4. Once press play on this EP, however, you don’t spend much time thinking about the time signature because hmurd is able to cook up all of these interesting melodies and grooves that build in these really compelling ways, it’s easy to just sit back and enjoy the ride and see where the music is going to take you. The Korg M1 piano helps give the EP that bridges experimental classical music and house, as hmurd often starts with solo piano before introducing new elements, often waiting for the drums to kick in and take it into that electronic dance music territory. On top of all this, we also get a remix at the end from Chants and Gabber, who are able to take hmurd’s composition and then just ramp up the energy to 11, making it for a really exciting way to close out the EP.

Limited Resources Label continues to produce interesting pieces of music. hmurd was a great choice, as he took his restrictions as a fun challenge and made some incredibly interesting and entertaining music in the process.