GENRE: DUBSTEP/FUNKY
Mature, elegant, funky, and a nailed on contender for best electronic album of 2011.
Anyone who has read any of my blogs before will know that I’ve been waiting for this album to drop for a long, long time. Everything FaltyDL touches has turned to gold recently, and his run of tremendous remixes and EPs over the last 12 months or so has set him apart as one of the very best producers currently working anywhere in the world. Well, here it is folks, the sophomore album, and it does not disappoint.
Drew Lustman’s niche has been carved from intricate, hard-hitting, totally off-kilter rhythms, fusing the best bits of UK funky with hip-hop constructions and IDM sparkles. You Stand Uncertain showcases all the qualities we’ve come to expect from his music, along with some deep, soulful songwriting on the vocal tracks that we perhaps hadn’t seen before. Anneka and Lily McKenzie provide vocals which complement Lustman’s compositions wonderfully, his creaking 2-step rhythms balancing perfectly against their rich tones, especially Anneka’s on the opener ‘Gospel Of Opal’. There isn’t a dull moment, the tempo forever morphing; from the darkly unsteady nightime beats of ‘Waited Patiently’ to the quickstep melodies of ‘Tell Them Stories’.
The production is predictably fantastic, razor sharp hi-hats and sublime snares contrasting with the smoke-filled, late night atmospheres he weaves using them. Indeed, it’s this subtle change in mood that proves the biggest distinction between this and the preceding EPs. Without ever sacrificing his love of innovative rhythms and broken landscapes he has turned the energy dial right down, slathering his music instead with layer upon layer of smudged 70s funk, painting his garage beats with the reds and purples of George Clinton and Sly Stone.
What FaltyDL has achieved here is to take a genre that normally best translates into singles or EPs and craft from it a breathtaking full length release. While the genres of dubstep and future garage have been with us for a number of years now, finding an LP as creative and downright listenable as this is a rare occurrence. There have been only a handful of truly great albums released, despite the huge number of talented producers releasing strings of knockout singles. Add You Stand Uncertain to that list. FaltyDL has proved that he understands which elements of his style work best over twelve tracks, and perhaps more importantly, that he knows how to diversify without compromising on his artistic vision. Mature, elegant, funky, and a nailed on contender for best electronic album of 2011.
FaltyDL feat. Anneka – Gospel Of Opal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSbrbltv7uM
FaltyDL – Tell Them Stories http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m5gUDfiKuI
FaltyDL feat. Lily McKenzie – Waited Patiently http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDHvbcI-h4k
