Shufflepunk: Great Gusto
Lewd Recordings

Lewd Recordings' third release dishes out four snappy slabs of dubstep electronica by Shufflepunk duo Pat Hime (aka Lewd Recordings label boss Patscan) and G. Carey (aka Resistance Hertz). The suave and slinky “Gusto” drifts bemusedly through the clouds, its tangy beat bump crosshatched with reverberant smears of swollen synth sputter and fizz—sleek and shiny mood music for the electro-dubstep lounge. “Fluster” and “Crunk” flirt with bridging the gaps separating dubstep, dub, and IDM when cartwheeling arpeggios tangle with lurching, low-end beats and churning synth atmospherics. “Flunk” stumbles like a drunken sailor as it too navigates a trail through sparkling trails of intricate keyboard patterns. Though Great Gusto arguably could be labeled dubstep, it's also largely free of the undercurrent of dread which is so often a part of the stereotypical dubstep release. In other words, Great Gusto, like Lewd's previous outing, There's No Techno Like NoseTek, No? by rANdOMoiDz and NoseTek, isn't averse to allowing some light-hearted spirit to enter into the mix.

November 2010