FaltyDL - Bravery E.P.

MUCH worse. I can only assume the positive reviews here are for dubstep-"form" fans, who are content to hear Drew become the "dubstep Prefuse". This isn't a bad idea in theory, but WHY Drew, WHY OH WHY did you drop all the GREAT lead melodies from "Love is a Liability"? Is dubstep developing its own brand of "elitist champions" that insist on the form being one way and one way only? (Yes dub techno wankers, I'm pissing on your graves already)

The Prefuse link is no-where more present than on "Mother Beam", a semi-trip-hop piece with cut up voices from black dudes and some diva vocals set to little more than utterly generic "lounge e-piano". Bombastic rising strings on Play Child, set to some soft piano, is about the closest this record gets to the beauty of the album. The rest of Bravery consists of "cut up vocals and stuff" set to dubstep rhythms. It's not bad, but already this is starting to sound like Drew wants to aim entirely at the dancefloor, or for trendy cafes.

There's a little of the LIAL magic present on Discant, where some chimes, e-piano and synth blips come together set to a funky-kinda-braindance/electro rhythm and an immediately loveable filtered bass riff. Nothing else comes quite as close though. Must Sustain is a pleasant quasi-tech-step piece but it relies entirely on its bass to get through, the only other strains of melody are from seemingly random pieces of guitar and vocal snippets. This is more sucessful than other tracks on the EP, but it's sad to hear the "chiptune lead" come in at one point as nothing more than an effect.

And that leads me to my main issue with this disappointing record: what happened to the melodic fiesta of the likes of To New York, or Dionysos? In the space of less than a year, Drew is already relying on "minimalism" and production tricks to carry his ideas. There will be lots of people that enjoy this for that alone, but Love Is A Liability rose above that, and actually contains a lot of memorable and emotionally charged melodies to go with the addictive rhythms. Take this away, and we're left with yet another dubstep record that'll be forgotten amongst the pile of them.