RUSTIE
Glass Swords
WARP217
Warp Records 2011
13 Tracks. 42mins14secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD Spotify: STRM

Hailing from Glasgow where he’s slowly been imposing his sound alongside the likes of Hudson Mohawke and the Numbers collective, Rustie landed on Warp last year on the back of a fistful of EPs released since 2007. His first EP for the label, Sunburst, was published just over a year ago and received wide critical acclaim, instantly placing Russell Whyte, as he was christened, alongside the like of Warp non-conformists à la Aphex or Clark.

Glitzy, playful and in yer face, Glass Swords is a thrilling machine indeed. Caught up between bleepy video game soundtrack, futuristic R&B, bombastic eighties electro-pop and E’d-up rave, Rustie heads this roller-coaster of an album with the brazen presumption of a maverick on a rampage. After the shimmering synthetic rush of the opening title track, Rustie sets the pace from Flash Back and never once softens his grip even an iota for the remaining forty-or-so minutes. Channelling huge levels of energy though cheesy synthesizer washes, stripped down beats and quirky electronic motifs, Whyte wraps up his ideas in tight little vignettes as fast as he dispenses them, most of them clocking somewhere around the three-minute mark. Occasionally, vocals, the contribution of Nightwave, find a space amongst the deluge of fizzy synths, more often than not in processed form, most prominently on the oddly soulful Surph, sounding like Prince played at the wrong speed, and the effervescent Globes.

Such downpour of beats and incendiary synthetic sounds could prove somewhat draining very rapidly, yet in Rustie’s hands, they are merely joyous manifestations infused with a huge sense of fun. As he juggles between funky grooves (Flash Back, Hover Traps), dazed electro (City Star, Ultra Thizz), infectious uplifting rave (After Light) and dreamy techno-pop (Globes, Crystal Echo), Rustie hits the spot time and time again as he creates some of the most exhilarating electronic music heard in a long while.

For someone who looks barely old enough to drive, Rustie collates some of the exciting trends in electro of the last thirty years in one handy package and delivers it with the confidence and aplomb of someone who’s been doing it for years. Glass Swords is an album which grabs you by the balls, drags you on the dance floor and leaves you utterly exhausted and euphoric at the end of the night. You can’t ask for more.

4.7/5

Rustie (MySpace) | Warp Records
Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD Spotify: STRM