When American Drew Lustman caught wind of what was being cooked up in British basements in the late 2000s—bass, dubstep and rave—he treated himself and us to a rap-inspired take on garage that became a must-have for at least five years. But what do you do when the genre that made you famous is no longer in vogue? As FaltyDL, Lustman jumped from label to label, visiting studios like Barnhus, Swamp81 and Ninja Tune, moving from classic house to ambient experiments and a less-than-successful psych-folk album to his current genre destination. And arguably his best.
On »Central Processing Unit« he garnishes crystal-clear electro beats with dark breaks, letting almost sweet melodies play their own game, while industrial influences regularly crash in from the side. These are learned sounds, and innovation prizes are for others, but jittery tracks like »Minds Protection« would have passed muster at the early Warp Records school, while Andy Stott might wonder why he didn’t come up with »Forget Me Not« himself. Occasionally the pleasure is a little short-lived, and some tracks could have used more than just sketch status, so let’s hope that »In The Wake Of Wolves« is also seen as a kind of teaser, and that Lustman has finally found his sound.
In The Wake Of Wolves
