Rabit

The challenging, visceral music produced by Houston's Rabit (Eric C. Burton) incorporates influences such as grime, post-industrial sound design, and the chopped-and-screwed rap of his hometown. Initially receiving attention for his take on the angular U.K. grime sound with a series of EPs during the early 2010s, Rabit's intense, violent full-length Communion (2015) crystallized his influences. From there, he ventured further into the unknown, releasing more abstract full-lengths such as Life After Death (2018), in addition to several screw mixtapes. Rabit has collaborated with <a href="spotify:artist:7w29UYBi0qsHi5RTcv3lmA">Björk</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5pYKi522166TkjkwTbEqQS">Dedekind Cut</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:71FFHzNW026SIGHPzbHJgu">Chino Amobi</a>, and others, and he runs the well-regarded experimental label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Halcyon+Veil%22">Halcyon Veil</a>.

Rabit debuted in 2012 with Terminator, an EP fusing juke and grime. Released on Austin, Texas' <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22%23FEELINGS%22">#FEELINGS</a> label, it featured a <a href="spotify:artist:0KyFKunOclAI5jah1T55lh">Traxman</a> remix of the title track. Rabit's reach extended as he made overseas connections. The follow-up EP Sun Showers, released in 2013, came out through Japan's <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Diskotopia%22">Diskotopia</a>, while a handful of 2013-2014 singles, including a release split with <a href="spotify:artist:1lqnqqkqnYMrx0kzb0qd8z">Logos</a>, surfaced on Dublin, Ireland's Glacial Sound. In 2015, the producer joined up with the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tri+Angle%22">Tri Angle</a> label for another EP, Baptizm. Later that year, he founded the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Halcyon+Veil%22">Halcyon Veil</a> label and released the full-length Communion, which made the gender and political issues in his previous work more explicit. Two limited, self-released albums (Supreme and Excommunicate) appeared in 2016, in addition to collaborations with <a href="spotify:artist:5pYKi522166TkjkwTbEqQS">Dedekind Cut</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:71FFHzNW026SIGHPzbHJgu">Chino Amobi</a>. Second proper full-length Les Fleurs du Mal, a departure from his more rhythmic earlier style, followed in 2017. During the year, Rabit co-produced "Losss," a track on <a href="spotify:artist:7w29UYBi0qsHi5RTcv3lmA">Björk</a>'s Grammy-nominated full-length Utopia. In 2018, Rabit released the full-length Life After Death and the EP Toe in the Bardo Pond. He also released Cry Alone Die Alone and Bricks in a Drought, two mixtapes which faithfully paid tribute to <a href="spotify:artist:6TC6ZeVdvCuBSn32h5Msul">DJ Screw</a>'s pioneering chopped-and-screwed sound. A third screw tape, The Dope Show, followed in 2019. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson, Rovi