Riordan’s The Funk EP feels like the kind of two-tracker that comes from being out in rooms enough to know what actually gets a reaction. There is no big concept to dress up here, and that is probably why the EP feels so direct. “Feel The Funk” and “WGTF?” are made for DJs, built around pressure, swing, and those small arrangement choices that make a track easier to trust when the room is already moving.
The timing gives it a little extra charge too. Riordan is coming off a Coachella debut that put him in the Yuma Tent across two weekends, plus a surprise back-to-back with Hamdi at the DoLab to close Weekend 2. That is a pretty fast jump into bigger territory for a producer whose sound has already been moving through house, tech house, and UK garage with a lot of real support behind it.
Hot Creations makes sense for this chapter. Riordan has talked about Jamie Jones being one of the first DJs who pulled him into house music, so putting his debut EP on that label gives the release a little bit of personal history without turning the whole thing into a nostalgia play.
You can hear that he wanted to make records that would go off in his own sets, and the EP keeps that purpose right at the front.
“Feel The Funk” Gets To The Point Fast
“Feel The Funk” starts from a pretty simple idea: big rave stabs, M1 organ, skippy drums, and a soulful vocal that gives the track enough lift without making it too polished. That combination is exactly why the record feels so easy to place in a set. It has enough hook to get people in quickly, yet the rhythm still has enough bite to keep it from feeling too soft.
What I like about this one is that Riordan does not overwork the idea.
The track has builds, drops, and all the functional parts you would expect from a Hot Creations record, but it never feels like it is trying to prove too much. The main elements are clear, the vocals have room, and the organ gives it that older house feel without turning the whole track into a throwback exercise.
That is probably why it started getting the reaction Riordan mentioned. Some records feel designed for playlist placement first. This one sounds like it was tested against people in front of him.
“WGTF?” Brings The Rougher Side
“WGTF?” pushes the EP into a slightly more restless place. The percussion has more swing, the rhythmic movement feels sharper, and the low end brings that UKG pull that has been running through a lot of Riordan’s best recent material.
It is the better track for DJs who want something a little less obvious. “Feel The Funk” is the one that will probably grab people first, but “WGTF?” gives the EP its edge. It has that sense of motion where the track keeps shifting under you, and that makes it useful when a set needs something with energy that does not feel like another straight-line club tool.
Riordan has already put up big numbers with tracks like “Needle On The Record” and “Lifting” with Silva Bumpa, and he has released across REALM, Black Book Records, TSZR, and Insomniac. The Funk EP feels like the next step in that run because it keeps the attention where it should be: two records, no filler, and enough personality to make the Hot Creations debut feel earned.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
