As part of the Teklife crew, 22-year-old DJ Earl has been releasing emotive footwork alongside heavy hitters like DJ Rashad for the past few years. Despite his age, the Chicago artist’s tunes have always come off as incisively constructed, progressing steadily in quality with each release. “WTF?!? Life Sent It Up,” one of three tracks from DJ Earl’s brand-new TEK x TAR Vol. 2 EP, sees him following in the footsteps of DJ Rashad’s acclaimed Double Cup LP, pairing the repeated strikes of warm pads with causal vocal samples. High-frequency bleeps permeate the mix, bouncing from ear to ear while an air horn signals a change in the locked rhythm section. Breakneck percussion buoys the listener through many phases of DJ Earl’s groove before finally dropping the listener off at the end.

WTF_!_ Life Sent It Up