[Hyperdub]

For those keeping close tabs on Darkstar, Hyperdub, or the broader “dubstep etc.” community, there’s a sense of “it’s about time” in the ship date of “Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer.” Landing in shops this month both on Hyperdub’s fifth anniversary compilation and as the advance single of an eventual Darkstar album, the track’s been floating around on Internet and radio for some time. If you’ve not heard it already, count on more of the bouncy bass lines, spare percussion, 8-bit keyboards and digitized vox that made the duo’s woozy, chilly “Need You” a crossover hit last year. Brace yourself, though, for a sweeter and much more melancholy pop song this time around — albeit a cool, depersonalized one. If you’ll forgive a hackneyed electronic music cliché, “Aidy’s Girl” sounds of clunky, malfunctioning technologies striving to express, or at least approximate, human emotion. The meek computer-generated vocals play the key role, but even the malleted percussion and squealing bit-stream chords seem to voice a stammering loneliness that tugs at the heartstrings. A remarkable realization of their dual interests of science fiction and simple, effective pop music, it’s Darkstar’s finest work yet, as far as I’m concerned.

Hyperdub has shied from the standard “remix on the flip” format, but “Aidy’s Girl” drafts Detroit house phenom Kyle Hall to rework the A-side. It’s an unexpected pairing and, moreover, unlike anything Hyperdub’s issued before, which is exactly what I like about it. Hall’s rework uses shavings of the original’s computerized vocal to form a sort of feathery down over a slow, deliberate pattern of deep techno oscillations and vintage house rhythms. An intermittent, high-pitched keyboard solo recalls the interstellar funk of Hall’s work on “Perfekt Sin” this summer, but actually this remix doesn’t show particularly clear connections to his earlier material. Its technoid soul vibe, unsurprisingly, reminds me of Hall mentor Omar-S, but the gauzy, micro-sampling of Darkstar’s track situates this track closer to dreamy Kompakt tracks of yesteryear. Just reading Hall’s name on a Hyperdub sticker comes as a surprise, but I certainly couldn’t have anticipated the track that results from the pairing.