In Vain

Londoner Ed Alloh aka Tim Reaper is best known for his vastly prolific output of neo rave music: from the end of the 2010s onwards he revisited the very specific UK sounds of 1992 and 93 as breakbeat hardcore was speeding up and speciating into jungle and other forms. He has always delivered those sounds with a sense that endless possibility still remains in their templates – and he’s worth all the profile he’s achieved just for this. But there is clearly more to him as an artist, and in 2025 there was a sudden outpouring of tracks on two low-key digital albums which really made clear his range and depth. With 20 tracks apiece, sfs and In Vain touch on 80s digital reggae, dubstep, R&B, house, hippie rave experimentalism and much more besides, blurring boundaries and short circuiting temporality so all questions of futurist/retro are thrown out of the window, and it becomes entirely about personal expression of intense emotion and self-reflection. At the time of writing in 2026 a vinyl release of a condensed selection had just been announced, which will be a beautiful thing and hopefully open these releases up to a wider audience – but really the quality across both is so remarkable they deserve to be listened to in full, too.