It’s a “utility thing,” the D.C. producer and DJ says about the no-frills tracks he releases as Dolo Percussion, including four he’s freshly dropped this week on the appropriately titled Dolo Percussion 2 EP. The energetic drum knocks and inviting bass tones maintain the core personality of the boundary-stretching funky music he makes as Maxmillion Dunbar, but without a lot of the far-out facets.

And by utility, Field-Pickering means that before any Dolo cuts are released on vinyl, he’s been using them — typically burned onto CDs — in DJ sets as Max D or with Beautiful Swimmers, his askew house-music duo with Ari Goldman. And with functionality as his motivation, he often finds himself pushed into a simpler headspace.

“With Max things, there’s infinite options, but with Dolo … you can get something wrong — it’s not gonna work unless you put a little bit of function to it,” he says. “I don’t ever think of a Max song as having a wrong way to go, but a Dolo thing can definitely be like, ‘Nah, this is not gonna work.’ It’s kinda cool because it’s this thing that talks back to you, almost.”

Dolo Percussion 2, on Field-Pickering’s own Future Times label, follows the format of 2013’s Dolo Percussion EP on New York’s L.I.E.S. label: four tracks, titled sequentially and generally presented in the order Field-Pickering created them.

“It’s utilitarian down to even the mixing, sometimes,” he says. “There’s pretty clear high, mid and bass things, like in terms of just the drum blocks — they’ll mix in with any record, it’s a bridge to anything else you’ll want to play.”

Field-Pickering says he typically shares the tracks with an inner circle of DJ friends once he’s had a chance to work them into his own sets for awhile. The response, as he describes it, is fittingly minimal.

“There’s a lot of exclamation-type things,” he says. Just like, ‘Whoo!’ You know, like, I get an email back, like, ‘Whoo! I can use that! Whoo!’”

Near the end of 2012, Protect-U’s European tour experienced an abrupt and nasty ending: Thieves lifted all of Mike Petillo and Aaron Leitko’s equipment from an allegedly secure back room after a show in Paris. With their gear in the wind, it looked like the pair’s 2012 single “Motorbike” would be the last thing Protect-U would release for a long time.

But thanks to the help of Protect-U’s friends and supporters, Leitko and Petillo raised enough money in a crowdfunding campaign to help rebuild their electronic arsenal.

In advance of the album that almost wasn’t, Protect-U (whose members are friends of mine) stopped by WAMU to record two tracks: an untitled composition and album cut “F-USA.” There’s a good chance that Protect-U’s dark, hardware-driven tracks are a first for the station’s beloved Bluegrass Studio, where both were recorded. Enjoy.

Here’s another one they did not offer up: “breezily triumphant return.”

Near the end of 2012, Protect-U’s European tour experienced an abrupt and nasty ending: Thieves lifted all of Mike Petillo and Aaron Leitko’s equipment from an allegedly secure back room after a show in Paris. With their gear in the wind, it looked like the pair’s 2012 single “Motorbike” would be the last thing Protect-U would release for a long time.

But thanks to the help of Protect-U’s friends and supporters, Leitko and Petillo raised enough money in a crowdfunding campaign to help rebuild their electronic arsenal. The first audible result of their time working with their new equipment, “Time 2 Technique” places an urgent funk-inspired beat under brighter, more celestial melodies.

The tune will appear on Protect-U’s debut nine-song LP, “Free USA,” out May 13 on local imprint Future Times Records, which Petillo runs with fellow electronic producer Andrew Field-Pickering (Maxmillion Dunbar, Beautiful Swimmers).

Protect-U is scheduled to play Select DC’s Vanguard Festival April 12, U Street Music Hall April 24 with Factory Floor, and Comet Ping Pong May 10 with Peaking Lights.