Austin, Texas-raised, now Berlin-based DJ and producer Chimp Hardy announces his debut album Animal, out 17th July 2026, alongside the new EP “Release Your Animal / Breakdown of Public Order”, out now.
The latest transmission from Animal pushes the story deeper into chaos. What began with “Public Service Announcement (Intro)” and “Toxin” as a subtle disturbance on the dance floor now escalates into full transformation. Bodies shift, behaviour changes, and the line between rave and revolution begins to blur.
Blending 90s UK rave, house, techno, jungle, breaks and bass, Animal is what Chimp Hardy calls a “rave opera”, a narrative built for the dancefloor. Across the album, ravers slowly turn into animals, take over the city, and begin forming a new society.
The second EP marks the tipping point.
“Release Your Animal”, featuring London vocalist GLOR1A, opens like a typical night out, until it isn’t. A dark bass wall, arpeggiated synths, and tense strings build as she heads into the club. Something feels off. People begin to change. The dance floor turns unstable.
GLOR1A’s vocals move from gritty to euphoric, channelling the spirit of Betty Davis, before landing on a direct call:
“Why’s you standing on the wall, looking tall? What ya waiting for? Release your animal.”
An invitation to step in, let go, and move. In the wider arc of Animal, this is where resistance gives way to transformation.
That moment collapses in “Breakdown of Public Order”. Pulling from old skool UK rave, The Prodigy, Bomb the Bass, Joey Beltram, and Kicks Like a Mule, the track turns raw, wonky, and chaotic. Structures fall apart, the energy spills over, and the dancefloor pushes into something uncontrollable. The afterparty slips out of shape. The old order doesn’t hold.
At its core, Animal is also about resilience. Made after a period of recovery, it returns to movement, the body, and shared experience on the dance floor, not as reflection, but as release.
As a queer artist, Chimp Hardy places Animal within underground electronic music as a space for self-definition, survival, and collective freedom. Now a fixture in Berlin’s underground, he’s known for high-energy, uninhibited sets – often body-painted, often confrontational, and always immersive.
With roots in Austin’s DIY scene and over 15 years in underground music, he has released on TRAX Records and his own K Willy Records, with support from Data Transmission, Electronic Groove and KALTBLUT, plus appearances for HÖR, Beatport, and opening sets for Erasure, Crystal Waters and Robin S.
With Animal, he builds something you don’t just hear, but a world you step into.
As he puts it: “I hope folks find it as transformative and empowering to listen to as it was for me to make. Most importantly, I hope they fuck it up on the dance floor and lose their minds.”
To mark the release, Chimp Hardy plays an album preview live show at Hornies, 13th June 2026, Arkaoda, Berlin (9 pm–7 am), opening for Shannon F from Light Asylum
The infection is spreading.…
Stay tuned at Futuristic Tracks of the Week selection and listen to Chimp Hardy’s new music first
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