Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL has been a name to watch for quite some time now. With his new album for Ninja Tune (in partnership with Falty’s new label Blueberry Records), Hardcourage, he’s ready to step up and join the electronic music elite. “Straight & Arrow” offers a clear idea why. FaltyDL makes pitch-perfect, beautiful, widescreen club music that works as well pumped from ear buds straight to your cerebral cortex as blasted from club sound systems. He’s a technically gifted, subtle producer who understands that soul should never be sacrificed to tastefulness.
It’s a mark of how highly he’s thought of in the world of electronic music that he can command remixes from both Four Tet and Gold Panda. Four Tet re-imagines the original, initially with the vocal hook and shuffling beat but evolving into a late-night crescendo of acid-tinged electronica, while Gold Panda chops things up to create an alternate groove. In between, Mike Q and Divoli S’vere concentrate on the beat, piling kicks and claps together for a sparse but compelling floor-filler.
FaltyDL has been turning heads since 2008, when Mike Paradinas signed his US-ified versions of UK garage to Planet Mu and released them on an unsuspecting world. Since then, Lustman has looked to expand and evolve his signature sound over two albums, an EP, and three singles for the label. In addition, he has released an afrobeat-inspired 12”, Mean Streets Pt 1, with Loefah’s Swamp81 label, a single on Ramp backed with a remix from Jamie XX, and begun releasing collaborations with Machinedrum online. An in-demand remixer, he has made versions for the likes of Seun Kuti (Fela’s son), Mount Kimbie, The XX, Scuba, Photek, Anthony Shake Shakir, Jose James, Alice Russell, and others. Recently he supported Radiohead in New York and topped Thom Yorke’s office playlist.
Prins Thomas - “The Four Tet mix grabbed me immediately. I’ll definitely play it. The original is good, too.”
Laurent Garnier - “Another superb remix from Four Tet.”
Nick Warren - “Brilliant work from Gold Panda.”
Tom Findlay (Groove Armada) - “Amazing. I love the Gold Panda and Four Tet mixes. Gold Panda is boootiful. Original also lush.”
Kraak & Smaak - “Excellent Four Tet remix … sick!”
Gavin Hardkiss (Hawke) - “Hella dope.”
Chrissy Murderbot - “Loving the whole thing.”
Gavin Herlihy - “Four Tet and Gold Panda remixes are working best for me. Four Tet is particularly good.”
Chris Coco - “Stellar line up of remixers for a really good artist. Four Tet remix works for me.”
Alan Brown (Cuki) - “Sublime electronica all around. That is some seriously deep musical mystery there. All mixes get major thumbs up but it’s the original that gets the big high fives for sounding something close to a Floating Points production. Brilliant!”
Nick Chacona - “What a great f**king record! The mixes are nice but the original really kills.”
Bill Brewster - “Four Tet is the one, though the Gold Panda mix is pretty cool, too. Nice mix of dance floor friendliness with some nice touches of waywardness.”
Joshua Ferguson (XLR8R) - “Loving the leftfield soul on display here.”
DJ Tomas - (Friday Night Session - KUSF) - “Hard to pick a favorite here. They all stand on their own, especially Falty’s origina which is straight deep vibez. Love the FourTet mix too – outersteller!”
Available now from Juno Download and Beatport.