It's been a good past couple years for NYC's Travis Stewart aka Machinedrum. The Brooklyn-based producer has seen lots of praise for his Sepalcure project with Praveen and his solo work on Planet Mu, and now here on LuckyMe, Machinedrum gives us more of an experimental dance vibe for SXLND. The slow churning dark ambient piece "Take Good Care" sets a misleading tone, since the title track takes it out of the black depths with an upbeat bass hybrid to rock floors. Check for hints of Sepalcure coming through on "No Respect" and the retro-future house vibe of "Van Vogue and "DDD." Forward at its best.

• music label: Lucky Me

reviewed by Von Bee 02/2012