It's a bit hard to pinpoint what Luis Garbán, AKA Cardopusher, will be offering up when you see his name on a release. He's an artist as capable of releasing on the glitch IDM stronghold Tigerbeat6 as he is Hyperdub. Of late, Garbán has focused his attention on house with attitude. "Hysteria," one of the tracks on this release, recently fit neatly between Bok Bok's remix of "All Night Long" and Green Velvet's remix of Cajmere's "Come" in a mix he had a hand in making.
The track seems to be a good example of what Garbán and Nehuen seem to be driving toward with their new label Classicworks. It's unashamedly retro in its sound palette yet future-facing in its production. These tracks are machine-engineered to, well, in the words of "The Real Thing," "pump this party." Most of what comes on So What is immediately satisfying, but it also highlights the problem with this release as well. In shaping up his tracks for the floor, he's missing the variety that made him so compelling in the first place. Cardopusher's upcoming EP for DVA Music has an electro-influenced track as well as the UK Funky-tinged "Guava Blossom." Not even Neuhuen, on the remix for "I Know U Will," bothers with a breakbeat here. If you like rave-y ghetto house bangers with a 2012 sheen, you'll find plenty to choose from. If you came to hear Cardopusher stretching out, you're better off going elsewhere.
