Unbalance (Bonus Track)

iTunes Review

Dave Huismans must spend a lot of time staring at his record sleeves before he heads into the studio. After all, the last time he delivered a full-length disc — 2008’s Aerial LP — it was swaddled in smoke rings and glazed in grays, as if Huismans channeled every last panel in his techno-tinged dubstep productions. This time around, his laser-canon synth lines and buffered breaks flutter and flash across your speakers like the Tetris blocks on Unbalance’s blood red cover. That’s because this album presents a fitter, happier, more productive side of Huisman’s 2562 guise — one that descends into darkness a few times (“Narita,” “Love In Outer Space”), but mostly sticks to manic melodies (“Lost,” “Like a Dream”) and sucker-punch beats (“Yes/No,” “Dinosaur”). And then there’s the title track, which forges a middle ground between happiness and Hitchcock, solidifying Huismans’ position as one of dubstep’s most vital producers.