Falty Dl - You Stand Uncertain on CD

Description

Ah, the modern dance album. Let’s face it: the format has lost its way since the heady days of The Orb and Underworld. Even The Chemical Brothers had a stab at installing an album architecture and variance that made sense to deluded ravers. So, the trail for the Holy Grail of a perfect dance album has gone awry. With the current club scene possessing the attention span of a goldfish on ketamine, the search for this electronic elixir more often resembles El Dorado; the blundering pack of colonials lost in the jungle, eternally going round in circles. Into this fray enters FaltyDL, standing with his second album cheekily in hand. You Stand Uncertain is a solid yet intricate wander through revived garage, house, rave and the ever-mutating, and increasingly ambiguous, dubstep niche. Drew Lustman is clearly a UK garage renaissance man. This sound prevails in nearly every track. Brazil, featuring Lily MacKenzie, is a song so taut with sharp snares and hi-hats you’re surprised you can even hear this percussion. All his productions are elevated by a sublime rhythmic touch. His sonic surfaces touch on various misty genres; but what makes this LP great is his tempo shifts, and that is perhaps due to geography. Based in New York, this revivalist is outside staring into an old UK sound. But he balances this Planet Mu release and expands its vision with more hip hop-inspired compositions. Such moments are found on the track Eight Eighteen Ten, where turntable beat chemistry is deployed effectively. Then, It's All Good morphs from a smoky stroll into a sludgy warehouse hybrid that could easily be an old SL2 record from 92 played slow at 33rpm. It’s a deft trick, and one perfected when the title-track kicks in straight after. It’s all clipped futuristic drums, warehouse rumble and the veiled ephemera of modern garage vocals – driven home so hard by scene lynchpin Burial – you feel like your listening has taken you to a distinctly fresh place. You Stand Uncertain isn’t quite legendary, but it is exceptional in today’s hurried dance scene. You’d be hard pressed to find a better electronic album released recently that speaks so strongly to the future whilst nuzzling the neck of the past like a hungry lover. Product Description When Falty Dl (a.k.a. New York's Drew Lustman) released his 2009 debut album Love Is a Liability on Planet Mu, it was notionally tied to dubstep, despite not sounding much like it at the time. A combination of irregular but still funky drums, bass and light musical surfaces, it stood out for it's distinctiveness-this was a native New Yorker interpreting British dance music from a unique angle. After spending 2010 honing his craft, working on singles for a bunch of different labels, and assembling remixes for the likes of the XX, Mount Kimbie and Anthony Shakir, Falty Dl pulls his skills and experience together for his new LP, You Stand Uncertain. From the beginning of the album, the listener is plunged into Lustman's new focus on layered and dusty atmospheres. Opener "Gospel of Opal" (featuring Anneka) is also his first work with a vocalist. Although at times it's anchored in the familiar basslines and rhythm science of UK dance, You Stand Uncertain proves the producer has soaked up some of his home town's musical history such as disco, house and hip hop. The album moves at different tempos, evoking the ghosts of dance music past but never allowing them to take over. With a decayed, dreamy and abstract feel, it also finds common ground with the current crop of "chill wave"-"The Pacifist" moves between passages of melody and waves of synth over distorted breaks; or check out the slowed-down rave euphoria of "Open Space." the crisp two-step of "Brazil" (the first of two songs featuring UK-based singer Lily MacKenzie) sweetens the atmosphere, while the spaced-out "You Stand Uncertain" marks a mid-point and offers a moment to catch one's breath before the album gears up with the ravey synths and jungle percussion