[Deepblak]

Although it wasn’t his debut proper, Afrikan Sciences’ Means And Ways LP, released last year on Aybee’s Deepblak imprint, was as perfect a mission statement as the young producer (born Eric Porter Douglass) could have hoped for. Its 11 tracks sit at a disjointed and profoundly stoned crossroads between synthetic and organic, free jazz and deep house — and frankly, for how otherworldly it is, Means And Ways remains a sorely underrated record. He followed it up with an adjoining EP of the same name, but the Boss Nova’s Second Pass EP, again released via Deepblak, is his first wholly new release since the LP.

Most noticeably, the four tracks here reiterate the LP’s style of stumbling rhythm. Douglass excels at broken-but-locked grooves; much like his peers to the south in L.A.’s beats scene (he hails from Oakland), he delights in knocking clunky, broken patterns way off the grid. However, Douglass keeps them in mechanically precise check — rather a slight shift away from 4/4, it’s like he’s moved their center to left-of-center. Apart from this focal point, he interweaves an array of textures. “The Onliest” is accentuated by chants, spiraling African guitar, and a generally yearning atmospherics, while “Hard Driving Man Driven Offcourse” is suffused by more chanting and a detuned, consuming bass drum. On the flip, “Lucjh” has an introspective, lightly optimistic sway, and the title track mixes clustered vibes, a flute solo, and open, coasting keys. Above all, the remarkable thing about Afrikan Sciences is how he manages to sound so mangled and free-flowing at the same time.