Cardopusher: Instant Loving (Frijsfo Beats)

Luis Garbàn’s Cardopusher continues to shift shape over the span of a variety of releases in the last year. It’s hard for me to keep up with him. To be honest, I’d written him off almost completely after hearing his debut album, Hippie Killers Don’t Mind Jah Conversations, a seething slab of breakcore noise that he unleashed in 2006. While I enjoy that sound now and then, a full album is usually difficult to get through for me, especially lately. So when I stumbled onto Instant Loving I was pleasantly surprised that he’s moved on to less abrasive, funkier sounds. Most of Instant Loving smacks of the UK 2-step bass music revival, many of its tracks underpinned with jaunty, syncopated woodblocky percussion patterns. There’s a certain melodic sensibility that carries through, with the fat mid lead of “Loving U” sounding like the perfect complement to the bright refrain of “Instant Glue” — that the two tracks’ titles comprise the release name is probably no coincidence. “Then What” is even more broken up, recalling some of the more spacious and syncopated drum tracks of Hessle/Apple Pips artist Joe but with a woozy synth accompaniment. Its companion remix is a bit sharper and cleaner, but the other tracks here outside both versions.

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