Album Review: Ghettos & Gardens by Justin Martin

Ever since he made his entrance on the electronic music scene with "The Sad Piano" in 2003, Justin Martin has continued to press on, turning out bass-heavy yet beautifully melodic productions on a regular basis. It's become something of a calling card for the San Francisco inhabitant, who helped co-found Dirtybird alongside Claude VonStroke and others, which is where his debut long-player Ghettos & Gardens finds a home. Martin's album is, unsurprisingly, largely comprised of music that surmises his ability to meld opposing extremes of sound.

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Fun, adventurous party tunes delivered with a carefree attitude. Ele Beattie 2012 "We're gonna hit the spot, we're gonna drop the jams and every booty gonna drop like dayyymun!" The dual high-pitched and gruffly distorted vocals that announce the arrival of Justin Martin's debut album also offer a mission statement: a declaration to deliver straight-up booty clap party music. A long-standing member of Claude VonStroke's San Francisco-based dirtybird Records, Martin and his fellow birds have always offered a bit of light-hearted relief amid the austerity of so much dance music.

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It's been seven years since San Francisco, CA DJ Justin Martin created Dirty Bird's first release, and now he returns with his first artist album, Ghettos & Gardens. There are the typical, playful house tracks marking Martin's jovial style, like the plinking strings, buoyant synths and random breaks in "Don't Go" or the flighty, delicate synths of "Butterflies. " Martin's use of strings on opening track "Hood Rich" plays the nostalgia card, reminiscent of his remix of Mike Monday's "Grace.

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