If you can judge an artist’s quality by the company they keep, then FaltyDL is up there with the best of them. The label history of the producer known to his friends as Drew Lustman reads like a “who’s who” of 21st century electronic music imprints - Ninja Tune, Unknown to the Unknown, Planet Mu, Studio Barnhus, the list goes on.

With In the Wake of Wolves, we can now add Central Processing Unit to this illustrious roster. The Sheffield label joins the party at a notable juncture - while FaltyDL has kept up an impressive clip of releases throughout his career, In the Wake of Wolves is both the NYC-based producer’s first LP for two years and his first full-length release away from his own Blueberry Records for almost a decade. 

In the Wake of Wolves proves to be both a great match for CPU and also further evidence of the label’s burgeoning sonic palette. While CPU has built its reputation on top quality electro joints, recent releases have delivered adventurous electronica experiments (Proswell’s People Are Giving And Receiving Thanks At Incredible Speeds), hard-wired breakbeat techno (Baby T’s I Against I) and golden-age synth explorations (twenty-fifth anniversary reissues of Bochum Welt’s Desktop Robotics and Feelings on a Screen, both of which first emerged via the legendary Rephlex Records). In the Wake of Wolves takes things further still - this is a brilliantly genre-voracious record, one which marries the rhythmic cut-and-thrust that we have long known FaltyDL for with all manner of adventurous stylistic choices.

Those familiar with the FaltyDL experience will recognise the trademark blend of synthetic grit and harmonious softness in album opener ‘I Need You’. This could pass for Four Tet or even Hannah Diamond at points, the steady build of pulsing synths and looped vocals recalling a more mysterious version of the PC Music sound. ‘I Need You’ stands shoulder-to-shoulder with any of FaltyDL’s other great atmospheric album openers - no small feat given the competition. ‘Further’, the following number, is yin to ‘I Need You’s yang. This is a pulsating track which gleefully skitters between machine-funk, tubing darkside bass and breakcore-adjacent drum programming, all of which is peppered with some genuinely beautiful work in the higher synths.

‘Further’ sets the scene for several of the more club-facing cuts here. ‘Minds Protection’ similarly features all manner of strange percussive sounds to surprise the ear, and it also boasts a thrilling mid-section in which the bottom falls out the track to incorporate a short snippet of blown-out junglism. With its tunnelling low-end and clattering drums, ‘Full Spectrum’ kicks off a delightful run of grime-influenced joints which take cues from Mr. Mitch, Logos and many of those other producers who took the Eski sound to exciting new places in the 2010s. ‘Forget Me Not’, the album’s longest track which is placed three spots from the end, feels like the record’s climactic point - a pitter-patter post-house joint that has a hint of Caribou in its DNA, it’ll take the clubs by storm.

But as much as FaltyDL may consistently bring the heat in terms of the beat programming, the thing which has long marked Lustman out as a special talent is the musicality of his compositions. No matter how much drums clatter or bass bangs, FaltyDL always hooks the ear back in with a sonorous synth or pleasing nugget of melody. Nowhere is this more apparent than on In the Wake of Wolves’ more weightless numbers, each startling in their prettiness. ‘Half Spectrum’ is a new-era beat track packed full of ear candy; the keening keys of ‘GasGas’ are potent with feeling; and on the album’s closer, the evocatively-titled ‘Mila Stans In A Meadow For The First Time Eating Strawberries’, we get a gorgeous synth vignette that joins the dots between the modern mastery of Yung Sherman and the most emotionally affecting moments of Aphex’s Twin’s catalogue.

In The Wake Of Wolves

FaltyDL - In The Wake Of Wolves

Pre-order >> https://fanlink.to/spiraldance

DMX Krew returns to Hypercolour with a new long player. ‘Spiral Dance’ comes stuffed with wonky and futuristic synth jams.

Having honed a style that has endured over an illustrious career, DMX Krew continues to immerse his productions in luscious analogue electronica, touching on the many bases of electro, Detroit techno, synthpop and dreamwave.

With previous albums for Rephlex, Permanent Vacation and Balkan Vinyl, amongst others, ‘Spiral Dance’ becomes the fifth album for Hypercolour, following on from 2021’s ‘Loose Gears’.

Spiral Dance

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DMX Krew - Spiral Dance (HYPELP026) [clips]

Scuba on SWU FM - first Wednesday of the month

Full Show

Steve Gurley x Cristale Bootleg (SWU FM Rip)

The first single from Braille ahead of his new LP 'Triple Transit'.  Full LP drops 20th June 2024.

Get it here: https://ingrv.es/dirt-fam-dz5-k

''Full of bounce and experimentation in equal measure, ‘Triple Transit,’ Braille’s new album for Hotflush is about leaving Sepalcure in the rear mirror, moving back to New York and using its energy to fuel new moves, confronting our hyper layered world and overcoming personal difficulties by being creative"

Triple Transit

Dirt Farm

GET IT HERE

Braille - Dirt Fam

Laurus Ascending

Buy on Bandcamp

Bodhi - Reformat (SWU FM Rip)

FREE DOWNLOAD: https://push.fm/cu/sandrab

We were promised flying cars. We got Sandra Bullock in “The Net”. I don’t know about you but I feel cheated. For this song, I tried to evoke the sonic equivalent of the phrase “Ignorance is Bliss”.  

Process wise, this track was a pivotal moment for me. I was just locking down a modular setup based around chord progression CV signals which were fed to Bass, Lead and gated Poly synths. Malleko (RIP) Voltage Block + @InstruoModular Harmonaig.

Sandra Bullock's Backyard - FREE DOWNLOAD

D:U:LIVE

12 June - London
13 June - Bristol
14 June - Manchester

Hardcore Heaven III

Bandcamp

Scuba - Truth (Digital Underground)

Pre-order: https://fanlink.tv/Human_Material_EP

@ambient-babestation returns to @optimo-music with a second collaborative release, this time with Bristol's sound-obsessive @borai. Their three-track EP, titled 'Human Material', collides electro, UKG and techno with early ‘90s hardcore.

'Do Androids Dream of Key Lime Pie' is a nod to the unabashed glory days of ‘90s hardcore and frantic sampling. Dubbed-out low ends make way for dusty jungle breaks.

More exclusive music

Premiere: Ambient Babestation Meltdown & Borai 'Do Androids Dream Of Key Lime Pie'

Brussels’ @cab_asa delivers four pared-back, percussive transmissions for London’s @controlfreakrecordings, alongside a remix from NYC’s @aye5ha

More info: https://djmag.com/listen/premiere-cabasa-bird-tool-ayeshas-drums-you-can-touch-dub

Premiere: Cabasa ‘Bird Tool (Ayesha’s Drums You Can Touch Dub)’

Matching his signature melodic futurism with enduring club music structures, Pev brings the Pulse series to a natural conclusion with the Pulse Phase EP. On this third release he underlines the broader approach to tempos and styles he’s taken across this latest period of his output, soon to be coalesced into a new live set. 

If there’s been a nostalgic streak detectable amongst the crisp modernism of the Pulse series, it comes through clearer than ever in the looped-up house jack and starry-eyed techno synth hooks of ‘Pulse IX’. ‘Pulse TEN’ pares back for a lean soundsystem workout driven by a strafing arp and fractured drums while ‘Pulse XI’ revisits 90s bleep techno with a deep, dubby intention. ‘Pulse XII’ completes the picture capturing the skeletal pressure of 2-step at its most slender and deadly.

There’s never a sense of over-familiarity — the exacting angles of the drums and alien hue of the synths maintain Pev’s distinctive sound first and foremost. But this series has also been an opportunity to hear some of his musical DNA more explicitly than before, cast in universal rave motifs propelled by the unrelenting pursuit of new forms for the dance.

Pulse Phase E.P.

Pulse IX

Peverelist - Pulse IX

niall - WHAT WAS THE ISSUE (gone.)

Brooklyn based Praveen Sharma has always taken a genre absorbing, dancefloor-oriented approach to his output as Braille,  effortlessly floating through house, techno, melancholic ambient and UK Bass. His singles on European labels Rush Hour (“The Year 3000”) and Hotflush Recordings (“A Meaning”) were critically acclaimed and set the stage for his full length album debut on LA based label Friends of Friends (“Mute Swan”). With an ear for sentimental melodies and an unprecedented step into the vocal arena, Braille’s first full-length demonstrated his ability to step outside the dancefloor box. Braille’s return to Hotflush with “Stand Still” marks an infusion of color and optimism to his sound and sets the stage for a renewed focus on the dance.

Praveen Sharma has been making a diverse range of music from folk to juke since 2004. He has released as “Praveen” on Neo Ouija, Moodgadget and Supermartyr Records, “Praveen & Benoît” on Music Related, and alongside Machinedrum as one half of the Pitchfork “Best New Music” awarded “Sepalcure” on Hotflush Recordings.

Sandra Bullock's Backyard - FREE DOWNLOAD

Braille

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