Falty DL – In The Wild

Drew Lustman's follow-up to Hardcourage finds him in much more experimental territory, composing tracks to accompany pieces of video art by Chris Shen. New Haven's bubbling synths, delicate pianos, processed breathing and MIDI-keyed vocal snatches never quite coalesce into house music, but convey a sense of motion and growth. Do Me's deconstructed footwork pattern dissolves into strange, fragmented techno, while the tribal rhythms of Greater Antilles Part 1 circle and loop like birds in flight before vanishing. 

Where vocal samples are used, and more structure is playfully broken down, as on tracks like the heavenly Frontin, Falty DL achieves something similar to the techno tone poems of London producer Actress. This is dance music divorced from both dancefloor, DJ and even listener – the rhythms and vocal snatches evoking traditional structure but never aping it. It's a searingly intellectual record, and although its purely tonal passages drift by somewhat forgettably, there are moments of white-hot brilliance. [Bram E. Gieben]