REVIEW: FaltyDL - Party/Alpafun

Drew Lustman fucks with his tracks, in a good way; even in his 2007 jungle releases, he found ways to fit some of the craziest samples in 170-180BPM tracks...which resulted in some pretty inventive jungle that defintiely piqued my interest. Then in 2009, Planet Mu got wind of FaltyDL, this time with garage-infused tracks with a boogie-down that'd make Grandma get down to the beat. With the full-length release "Love Is A Liability", Lustman proved that his releases are not to be viewed as a flash in the pan and that he's making a nice niche for himself in the electronic world with his soulful shuffle.


His latest release off RAMP Recordings, "Party/Alpafun" a two-sided beat affair that borders between sultry, soul dance diddy and ear-tinging dub garage exploration. With two tracks, it's clear there will be contrast, as RAMP said in there press release about Alpafun was "a tune that Mr. Lustman hates so much and never wanted it to see the light of day." As much as FaltyDL didn't want that track on the release it definitely showed something once you heard "Party" right before it...the open-ended approach he has in productions.

Starting off with the very hyped-up "Party", the track begins with bass tones, soul vocals, a room-filling synth and a lead-up vocal singing the only lyric to the song which is, you guessed it "Party". It's a beautiful tease that brings us right in to the percussive balance of the track, with the main shuffle hitting on the upbeats and the surrounding percussion filling in the blanks. Measure by measure, you start to feel the intensity build as hear more percussive elements such as toned-down cymbals and claps, meshing in seamlessly with the trickery of his vocal sample placement, cutting out a bit and adding a few more; the depth Lustman adds in this track is endless. With two or so minutes of build-up, the track begins to fill up nicely as the claps get louder and the synth emerges once again; it becomes an actual party within the track. More bass tones get introduced and the percussion has a nice little battle for supremacy by the third minute, and essentially we're in a time lapse hearing when a party starts right until when it ends. "Party" ends on a calming note, with the vocal samples providing closure and reassurance that, "Yes, you did have a good time listening to this track."

The flip-side of this release "Alpafun", finds itself on a different world, with bass kicks and metallic snares fueling the track straight from the beginning. The patented shuffle is there, but it's used in a very different way from most of the FaltyDL tracks. The shuffling bit is used more as a bridge between the bass and the snare, while the synth keys take over atmospheric duties, giving us space to hear all of it. There's a point where the snares and bass kicks stop entirely during the track, giving a necessary moment to catch our breath before this gust of sound hits us square in the face. When it comes back it adds a couple of extra kicks, taking three beats out of four in a measure at some point...but still remaining in the background, lurking and contributing to the whole of the track. It ends with the exclusion of the kick and snare once again, letting the synth and bass tones take us out in style.

This release proves simply that FaltyDL is here to stay, whether it be making us lose our mind with a build-up that brings out the freak in us or letting us analyze how we can relate a metallic snare in our lives, Lustman shows his expansive production skills and is letting us know with this release...that he's only got more goodness to come.