Joshua Steele's
Flux Pavilion project rolls deep on its third EP, a dubstep-dropping, speaker-ripping, roof-blowing affair that somehow figures out how to pace itself. Opener "Onetwothree (Make Your Body Wanna)" has one of those "I Can't Stop"-like constructions that cleverly swerves at every corner -- dropping the beat and building it up while samples scatter and shatter in ways that are attractive, and ultimately, hooky. Big room tune "Blow the Roof" is more of the glorious same with ska-based two steps and air-raid sirens providing every reason to return, and then there's the great "Do or Die" where rapper/actor
Childish Gambino gets his quirky version of
Kanye on ("Vino flows so honest/Your check ain't got no commas" or "Cooler than
Coolio/Stay in that studio/Flyer than Peter Pan when I'm pushin' that Rufio"). All three are shining examples of
Flux at full power, but what makes the EP so worthwhile are the bridging tracks, with Steele chilling on the synth-pop tip and offering his own vocals on the not-so-mad highlight "The Scientist." A weird inversion of his big hit dubbed "I Still Can't Stop" rounds things out nicely, making this an EDM EP done right, tending to both the feet and headphones. ~ David Jeffries