By: Evan Townsend

Fresh off his latest release as one half of PANTyRAiD, the newest album from Martin Folb, aka MartyParty, is slated for release May 31st. The Brooklyn-based producer claims his Monsters of Bass Tour as inspiration. “I really wanted to write a collection of tunes which best represented the energy and emotion that I spread throughout the US and Canada on tour.” In anticipation, he’s released a free promo EP (available for download here,) but the only thing it does to prepare the listener for the LP is to show them what a transformation MartyParty’s made.

Though he’s been producing since ’05, MartyParty’s latest release is where he shows his true colors. Or color, rather. Purple is chock-full of the producer’s signature “genre” of the same name. As the inventor and producer of this kind of music, MartyParty has the final say in what actually qualifies as “purple.” But never before has his sound been so well-defined as in this album. Purple, the genre and the album, is built around beautiful, distinct melodies that are precisely constructed just to be knocked down by the tumultuous roll of bass. Above all, MartyParty’s impetus is storytelling, which he accomplishes through atmospheric textures and a swath of musical temperaments.

The album opens with “Eggs and Toast,” which initially presents itself as a bizarre but enchanting love child of electro-pop and a 1950’s movie score. About it a minute in it abruptly tumbles into hammering dubstep, retaining little of its grace in exchange for surging waves of bass.

The drops aren’t all so sudden, though. The thrilling “It’s What I Want” smoothly swells from dance beat calliope to full-bodied whomps, while the bass in “My Lady Got Me Good” is as much a part of the melody as the smooth piano and strings.

Beginning with the ethereal theme of “Because of You,” the second half of the album is characterized by a dip, not in quality, but in pace, and a return to more familiar MartyParty style. Each track here floats with slow, distorted throbs and swirling synth. But calling these songs “slower” doesn’t even begin to describe the variety they hold. They range from the rough, glistening “Chicago,” to all the sultry tones of “Ur So Dirty,” and ending in the 8-bit melody “Mackie.”

Even with the occasional indulgence into a traditional sound, each track on Purple is a gem. Almost every producer works to stake their claim on some new revolutionary sound, and a many of them say they’ve created it, but few actually deliver. MartyParty does.

Purple EP Sampler