Critiques CD: Felix Cartal | Different Faces

After showing great promise (and taste) on his debut LP Popular Music (read our glowing review here), and collecting industry kudos from the likes of Diplo and Benny Benassi, Vancouver-bred house sensation Felix Cartal fails to live up to sophomore expectations on this second outing for Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak imprint. Cartal branches out beyond his debut’s electro-house bent, but the result is a succession of predictable builds and drops, a flurry of ailing basslines and subdued piano parts that never rise above the formulaic. To make matters worse, Cartal tops off many tracks with run-of-the-mill female vocalists (the generic “City of Love” and “Don’t Turn on the Lights”). This is EDM in the embryonic stages of Alzheimer’s, where there’s little to keep the mind going as the body coasts into autopilot on the dancefloor. Thankfully, there are a few redeeming tracks – the pounding electro-house banger “Triple Deke” and the darkly emotive melody driving “Life is a Sinewave” – that remind us this guy’s got serious talent. May 5th at La Mouche.