‘Alien Boy 96’ is an incredible slice of instrumental hip-hop that dives into experimentation with freedom and compositional intelligence. You can feel the glitchy influence of IDM producers like Squarepusher informing Sal Dulu’s approach, while jazz, house, and ambient soundscapes can be found wandering the texture of the piece. The Irish producer has been racking up support in recent months thanks to a string of excellent releases, and this is his best one yet. His debut album is gearing up for release soon, and is likely to be filled with many more unique, atmospheric compositions. -Dan Peeke