I have now had well over a month to digest the MP3s, and I have had the CD (and what a lovely object that is) for a week. High time for me to review Quaristice, Autechre’s first album for three years.

Pinksy encouraged me to write a track-by-track review, but I will not do that in case I make an arse of myself like that other guy. That, and because I can’t think of enough things to say about each track. And I know nothing about electronic music production so I really would be making an arse of myself.

Anyway, onward!

The album starts off with a real surprise. ‘Altibzz’ is perhaps Autechre’s most luscious track since the days of Amber or Tri Repetae. It is not often that Autechre stray into making these beatless soundscapes any more, but it is a real treat when they do.

Paradoxically, for what is perhaps Autechre’s most immediately accessible track in a long time, for this very reason it was disorientating to listen to for the first time. It is an unsettling beginning to the album, because it leaves no preparation for what is to follow, namely the kind of brain-rattling beat bombardment associated with their post-LP5 work.

‘Altibzz’ is immediately followed by ‘The Plc’, a rather more dizzying track. It starts of with a kind of slippery-sounding beat, backed up with a dense synthy soundscape, like a darker ‘Altibzz’. The track progresses, in typical Autechre style, into something quite different yet the same. I love the vocals towards the end.

Autechre aficionados will immediately recognise some parts of Quaristice from the leaked recording of their 2005 gig in Glasgow as part of the Untilted tour. ‘IO’ brings us the first recognisable moment. However, I find this version disappointingly superficial compared to the live one. This had a lot more power live.

The other recognisable moment is ‘chenc9′. For me, this track succeeds much more on the album. It is a real high point towards the end of the album — upbeat, accessible and danceable, but as uncompromisingly intricate as any Autechre track.

However, my favourite track from the album is ‘Simmm’. This is not one of Autechre’s most intricate tracks. It’s rather immediate actually, with a funky melody and a groovy array of electronic percussive sounds. Another top track is ‘Perlence’. It sounds like ‘Popcorn’ by Hot Butter fucked with big time. Despite the ‘popcorn’ connotations in the sounds in this track, it’s a great listen. I also absolutely love ‘fwzE’. It reminds me of ‘The Trees’ but groovier.

A lot has been made about the immediacy of Quaristice in many of the reviews that I have read. I have to say that, in general, I did not feel this at all. I “got” Untilted straight away, and even Draft 7.30 was more immediate for me.

But listening to Quaristice gave me that stereotypical reaction to new Autechre music. I didn’t know what to think, I couldn’t possibly take in what I had listened to. I was quite confused really. I suppose I fell into the trap of wanting to hear Autechre’s last album rather than anything new. I was really looking forward to an Untilted II, which of course isn’t really the point of Autechre.

The initial alienation I felt was particularly exacerbated by the fact that, to me, Quaristice doesn’t feel much like an album. It skips from styles and moods with seemingly little thought to the overall flow of the album. With the additional fact that these tracks are much shorter than those on your standard Autechre album (20 tracks around 3–4 minutes long as opposed to 9 tracks around 7–8 minutes long), I was reminded most of Gescom’s MiniDisc.

Perhaps the fact that the tracks are relatively short by Autechre’s standards is one reason why some people found this album accessible. I just didn’t get that easy door in. After Untilted I smugly believed that I had learned to “read” Autechre as much as I needed to. Quaristice has certainly put me in my place!

It is interesting to point out here that in one of their recent interviews (in Wire magazine, not available online), Autechre have explained that the idea of Quaristice is to get to the meat of the track straight away, without any of the “language lessons” as they called the build-up of the track. I understand exactly what they mean, but for me the build-up was a lot of the fun of Autechre, and that has been taken away here.

If Quaristice has an overall sound, I would have to say that I think this is Autechre’s darkest album to date. One track in Untilted made me feel uneasy — ‘Pro Radii’. My first impression of Quaristice was as though I was listening to ‘Pro Radii’ for the first time, several times over.

A huge period of darkness comes towards the middle of the album. This period begins with ‘paralel Suns’, where, incidentally, the weaknesses of the MP3 format are shown up the most. This is followed by ‘Steels’, perhaps (along with ‘90101-5l-l’) the track that most reminds me of ‘Pro Radii’.

Next comes ‘Tankakern’, which at first I felt was reminiscent of ‘777′, one of my least favourite Autechre tracks. This, however, has been the typical Autechre grower. Now I think it approaches the brilliance of Confield, which I consider to be the pinnacle of electronic music. This track particularly reminds me of ‘Bine’ from that excellent album. Bonus marks go to ‘Tankakern’ for the inclusion of birdsong.

‘rale’ is where things start to become groovy again. A simple but addictively enjoyable beat accompanied by a rather immediate syncopated melody, though towards the end there are some rather unsettling sounds that remind me a bit of the creepy psuedo-subliminal messages in Boards of Canada’s Music Has the Right to Children.

We only truly emerge from the dark patch with ‘bnc Castl’. The track starts off ominously enough. But within seconds it becomes some madcap shiny, sparkly tune with tinsel flying all over the place. It sounds a bit like an ice cream van having a fight — a really rhythmic fight — with an ambulance.

It transpires that ‘bnc Castl’ is only a surreal interlude, as it is followed by ‘Theswere’. This sounds like it actually could be from a horror film soundtrack, albeit one where the monster is a draining sink. To be honest, this track is a bit cheesy by Autechre’s standards.

‘WNSN’ is not so intimidating, although it still has a very other-worldly quality to it. This track is very reminiscent of EP7-era material, particularly ‘Zeiss Contarex’.

Towards the end of the album we see a return to the more ambient sound found at the beginning. However, these closing two tracks do not succeed as much as ‘Altibzz’ for me. ‘Notwo’ would be quite pleasant, but the melody seems a bit ham-fisted and it’s not the most polished-sounding of tracks. Perhaps that was the intention, but I’m afraid I don’t like it.

The final track, ‘Outh9X’ is more like it, but not quite the triumphant climax it could have been. I know that Autechre are quite challenging, but even though initially many of their tracks sound very odd they tend to make most sense if you switch off your brain and just let it all wash over you; allow it to appeal on an innate, subconscious level.

This is not allowed to happen on ‘Outh9X’. I just don’t get the strange plinky-plonky melody that fades in and out towards the beginning and middle of this track. It seems completely out of place. It is quite off-putting and is enough to ruin the whole track for me.

Overall, I have to say that I find Quaristice to be quite an odd album. By any normal standards, it is brilliant. I don’t mean to come across as fanboyish (although I am a bit of an Autechre fanboy), but I can’t help thinking to myself, why is there no-one in the world who can hold a candle to Autechre? I mean really, why are they so good? There are plenty of imitators, and lots of people making music in the IDM tradition. But why are none of them anything like this good?

On the other hand, by Autechre’s standards, Quaristice is, for me, quite a weak album. It is probably their weakest since Chiastic Slide.

It is true, however, that Autechre material needs a very long time to be digested. The music grows on you and you are forever seeing the music in new and interesting lights. By the time Autechre’s tenth album comes out, I will be craving more material in the vein if Quaristice, just as I was hungry for more music in the style of Untilted.

Even so, I can’t help feeling that this is Autechre’s least ambitious offering for a very long time. For me, the interesting thing about Quaristice is that it covers a lot of old ground. There are elements here of almost all of their previous albums.

I should point out that I have read the interviews, and I am aware of the circumstances under which this album was recorded. Even so, on a purely sonic level — from what my ears feel — Quaristice is retreading a lot of old ground.

I suppose in a way it is a bit too simplistic to think of Autechre’s music as becoming increasingly complex over time. In their earliest albums, this is certainly true. But since LP5 or EP7 Autechre’s music, although changing in style and mood from album to album, has zipped around within the same boundaries as far as the intricacy of their music goes. Perhaps they always wanted to sound like this, but were limited by technology in the early 1990s.

Anyway, I do feel like a right Crispy Godber now because I have certainly analysed this too much. The best way to approach Autechre is not the chin-strokey way celebrating needless complexity. While it’s certainly interesting to consider, the real reason I like Autechre, as I suspect is the real reason why anyone likes any music — or anything, for that matter: instinct. As I said somewhere above, let it wash over you and it will make sense on an innate level anyway.

I will return to Quaristice soon with a review of the limited edition second CD, Quaristice (Versions).

I was going to to a track-by-track review of Quaristice. Pinksy asked what it sounds like, which is quite a tough question to answer. I was tempted to give it a shot though.

But I think I will give the track-by-track review a miss — in case I end up sounding like this.

It already has its own parodies.

Like a bad Plaid track really. Is it ‘played’ or ‘plahd’?

In fairness, it is difficult to describe Autechre, and I defy anyone to pronounce most of Autechre’s track titles. But these parodies are too funny! Love the piss-take fake Autechre music in this one as well.

Yesterday I promised that I would finally get round to posting my top three albums of 2007 today. I almost forgot about it because I was having so much fun writing my dissertation (true story). But a promise is a promise, so I am staying up extra late. I’m sure it won’t take long…

3. Shining — Grindstone

This must be the most overlooked album of the year. I should point out, in case you were confused, that I am talking about the Norwegian electro-jazz-prog metal band, not the Swedish suicide-themed death metal band.

I discovered Shining because some of their members used to be in Jaga Jazzist, another Norwegian band that I love. But while Jaga Jazzist are known for their quirky electo-jazz stylings, Shining have increasingly forged a path into the altogether darker territory of progressive metal.

But it’s not just that — it’s a cartoon version of metal. Jazz instruments play as big a role as guitars, and the whole lot is backed by whacked out singing and interspersed with ambient interludes. In short, expect the unexpected.

If it all sounds a little bit overwhelming, as though they have over-egged the pudding, do not fear. Although light moments are mixed with the darkness of metal, it is far from a scatter-gun approach. Everything is meticulously arranged. In fact, it is the multi-layered nature of the tracks and musicianship of the band members that impresses me the most about Grindstone.

I think it is an utter travesty that Shining are not more well-known.

Listen to the album in full at Last.fm

Video: ‘Winterreise’ — not an official video, but it has kind of been endorsed by the band.

2. Radiohead — In Rainbows

So much has been made of this album, but not much of it has been about the music itself. I am a serial offender here as well.

I was disappointed at first. If you have been reading this blog for long, you will know that I quite like exploratory electronic music. I am much more of the Kid A stripe of Radiohead fan than The Bends kind. So I initially found In Rainbows to be a let down. It seemed too safe for a band as good as Radiohead.

It sounded little different to Hail to the Thief. It rather does suggest that Radiohead have found their equilibrium. The post-OK Computer explorations were just that: explorations. Now they have found a happy medium, and every future Radiohead album will pitch its flag in this middle ground.

But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It is strange to hear Radiohead sounding so comfortable — but over time I have come to see that as one of the greatest strengths of In Rainbows. Probably for the first time in several years — the first time ever? — Radiohead don’t sound tetchy or fed up or lost. They are at ease. They are just making great music.

In Rainbows makes Kid A sound immature and Hail to the Thief sound downright shambolic. Not that I am announcing that I now dislike Kid A — it is probably still my favourite album. But In Rainbows has a craftsmanship to it. It has been constructed, not thrown together. Kid A had ideas. In Rainbows has songs.

So the experimentation has gone. Or at least it is taking a back seat. So there is nothing aurally exciting like ‘Everything in its Right Place’ or ‘Pulk’. But there is now pure beauty: ‘Nude’, ‘Videotape’ and ‘Reckoner’ are now among my very favourite Radiohead songs.

What makes In Rainbows stand out as a great album is Phil Selway’s drumming. Time and again he has been the essential element in a Radiohead song, most notably in ‘Pyramid Song’. Today he is at the top of his game, providing unusual but immediate drumbeats. He’s obviously had to up his game since the rest of the band started using drum machines!

If I have a complaint, it is about ‘Arpeggi/Weird Fishes’. Not that it’s a bad song, but I much prefer the original ‘Arpeggi’. It doesn’t sound as powerful as the original live version, as the guitars make the arpeggios sound rather muddied.

And great albums don’t have songs as weak as ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Bodysnatchers’. The latter also has a line that has been stolen straight out of Pulp’s ‘The Fear’, right down to the way it’s sung. Not a high crime, but rather off-putting.

Discbox purchasers got a second CD, and amazingly the music is pretty much at the same high standard as on CD1. ‘Bangers + Mash’ in particular is a great, fun song. It should have been on CD1 in place of ‘Bodysnatchers’.

Videos: lots — mostly live performances

1. Battles — Mirrored

I have been going on all year about how great Battles are, and truth be told I don’t think there’s much else I can really say about Mirrored. Suffice it to say that it is great to hear someone genuinely pushing the boundaries and showing everyone what really can be done with technology when you put your mind to it.

Video: ‘Tonto’

My original review of Mirrored

If there is a musical act I like more than Radiohead, it is Autechre. The release of Autechre’s new album, Quaristice, bears some resemblance to Radiohead’s attention-grabbing In Rainbows release. It also bears a lot of the hallmarks of my predictions / observations about the apparent future of the music industry which I wrote about earlier this month.

I has already been known for a while that a new Autechre album was due out on 3 March. But on Tuesday it was announced via an email to subscribers to the Warp Records newsletter that Quaristice was available to buy as a digital download immediately.

This is the second time in as many months that Warp has sprung a surprise. They did it last month by releasing Clark’s Throttle Promoter EP with no prior warning, along with the announcement of a new album, Turning Dragon, just a month away. It is a pleasant change given that Warp seem to like announcing an album several months in advance and switch the publicity machine into overdrive (and the recorded music industry wonders why people just illegally download albums instead of waiting).

Of course, I had to buy it straight away. Unfortunately, Bleep was struggling to cope with demand. After spending far too long trying to get the zipped download to work, I eventually resorted to laboriously downloading the album track by track. The whole process took over three hours. Ironically, it would have been a lot quicker and easier — not to mention cheaper — to just illegally download it.

On top of the immediate digital release, a limited edition version of Quaristice was announced. This is interesting because Autechre have never had a ‘limited edition’ version of one of their albums released alongside a standard edition. I don’t know if that was because Autechre didn’t like the idea or if Warp thought it wouldn’t be worth it. But whatever, this move seems to back up the observations I made a few weeks ago — the limited edition is becoming much more important for the recorded music industry.

The limited edition Quaristice sounds swish. It comes with a second CD of alternative versions of tracks from the album housed in a rather luxurious-sounding package:

The double CD set comes in a Designers Republic styled, photo-etched, 0.4mm steel slipcase with foil blocked inner gatefold wallet.

It comes at an equally luxurious price — £24.99. And postage is £5! Limited to 1,000 copies, it sold out really quickly, so I feel lucky that I didn’t hang around like I often do. I speculate that they could have easily sold 5,000.

The MP3s cost £6.99 (if I had opted to go for the lossless Flac files (which I didn’t because they are not iPod-compatible), it would have cost £8.99). As such, I have spent £36.98 on Quaristice — almost as much as the £40 Radiohead ‘discbox’.

Before In Rainbows I had never spent anything like £40 on an album. Now I have done it twice in the space of a few months. What a sucker. Who said it was impossible to make money from recorded music any more?

All-in-all, it is a very clever move by Warp. I have bought every Autechre album that’s ever been released for around a tenner. With a couple of sly moves they have managed to just about quadruple that. And judging from the trouble I had downloading it and the fact that the limited edition sold out so quickly, it has happened at least a thousand times over. The accountants at Warp must be happy today.

(Needless to say, I will be reviewing Quaristice when I get the chance.)

Updated to include the full 20 — I messed up the original post. Thanks to Ali for pointing it out.

Hmm, a bit late here. That always seems to happen nowadays. Sorry about that. But I like to wait until the very end of the year to do my end-of-year list, unlike others who sometimes compile their list in December or even November.

In my view, 2007 was a very good year for music indeed. But competition for the top spot in my list wasn’t close. But before we get there, here are some of the albums that appear lower down on my list, going up to #21.

40. Mira Calix — Eyes Set Against the Sun

The biggest disappointment of the year for me. This album has had all year to grow on me, yet it is still to grab me.

39. Bonde do Rolê — With Lasers

I guess baile funk is an acquired taste. I didn’t get CSS, and this album grates on me a bit. Perhaps I was blinded by the association with the rather good Diplo when I bought this album. Not my finest purchase of the year.

38. iLiKETRAiNS — Elegies To Lessons Learnt

My brother goes on and on about this band. So I’ve given them a go. I like some of their older songs — particularly ‘The Bible’ and ‘Go To Sleep’. So it’s beyond me why these tracks will remain as obscure demos or b-sides, while the album is full of samey dross.

The worst thing about iLiKETRAiNS for me is that this is one of the most obvious examples of post-rock by numbers I have heard. It really sounds like a poor man’s Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It’s not just the derivative nature of the music that gets me. It’s the fact that the original post-rock music was about pushing the boundaries.

In the past the ‘post-rock’ tag was applied to bands who were wary of being labelled in that way. But now there are bands out there who are actively trying to sound like ‘post-rock’. It spectacularly misses the point of the entire approach of the original post-rock bands.

37. Maxïmo Park — Our Earthly Pleasures

A disappointingly by-the-numbers follow-up to the exciting A Certain Trigger. You’d normally hope for a band to broaden its sound for the second album, but Maxïmo Park have done the opposite.

The greatest deviation from the norm comes in ‘Russian Literature’, which starts off sounding like something that their old pals Field Music would have come up with before descending into the bland Maxïmo template.

36. Bogdan Raczynski — Alright!

Not sure about this one. I’ve been meaning to buy a Bogdan Raczynski record for ages, so when he brought out Alright! I thought I would give it a go. I guess I must have bought the wrong one to start with because it has not impressed me as much as I was hoping.

35. Savath & Savalas — Golden Pollen

Yet another bland album from Scott Herren. Aside from a few aurally pleasant moments, this album is totally devoid of landmarks, and sounds just like old Savath & Savalas stuff.

After the major disappointment of Security Screenings under his other monicker (Prefuse 73), as well as a string of other increasingly disappointing releases, this was the final straw for me. I have stopped buying Scott Herren records until I hear definitive evidence that he has upped his game. The great days of One Word Extinguisher seem so long ago now…

34. High Priest — Born Identity

I’m quite glad that Antipop Consortium are getting back together because it really was a case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Whatever I heard of Beans’s solo material sounded (quite aptly) as offensive as audio farts.

High Priest similarly is not so great on his own. Born Identity isn’t offensively bad though. In truth it has some really good moments — a nice mixture of experimental electronic hip-hop and commercial sensibilities, such as in ‘Banger Up Top’.

My biggest problem with this album as a whole is that it is quite a claustrophobic listen. Songs start and end abruptly, as though there wasn’t the time given to allow ideas to gestate. This gives the album a dizzyingly fast-paced feel. There is just no time taken to pause and take a breath.

Video: ‘Pitfalls’

33. Amiina — Kurr

I found this album quite boring. It has some pleasant moments, but overall I find it flat and lifeless. A bit of a shame as I liked their EP, Animamina.

32. Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid — Tongues

Another disappointing album. When a modern pioneer of electronic music teams up a well-respected jazz drummer you expect magic to happen. What we got was little more than a selection of ramblings.

For Kieran Hebden’s part, the electronics mostly sound suspiciously similar to older Four Tet material, with a particular similarity to Everything Ecstatic. Meanwhile, Steve Reid’s drumming is disappointingly unadventurous and takes far too long to develop.

There is a video on YouTube of them performing ‘Brain’ live, and it is much better than the version on the album. Even though the albums are said to be recorded as live improvisations with no overdubs, I can imagine that it is pretty spectacular to see this live in action. But the album misfires a lot.

31. Trans Am — Sex Change

Hmm. I’m new to this band, and this is a recent purchase. So I’ll have to give the album a bit more time to digest before giving a definitive verdict on it.

But album opener ‘First Words’ is a neat and enjoyable nod to Krautrock. I find nothing particularly offensive about the rest of the album. Indeed, it is impressively eclectic, which is probably one of the reasons why I’m struggling to sum it up. Another impressive thing is that apparently the album only took three weeks from conception to completion. Efficient!

30. Clark — Ted E.P.

A so-so EP from a musician who promises so much more. Many of the sounds are recycled from the already disappointing Body Riddle. To add insult to injury, the final track, ‘Cremation Drones’ is a blatant rip-off of Boards of Canada’s sound.

Video: ‘Ted’

My original review of Ted E.P.

29. The Tuss — Confederation Trough EP

Some good tracks here. A decent taster for the follow-up album, Roughup Edge. (I write more about The Tuss in my review for Roughup Edge, higher up in the list.)

28. Proswell — Bruxist Frog

A landmark album, as it was the last ever to be released on the excellent Merck label. Another nail in the coffin of the ailing IDM genre. Just as well Bruxist Frog wasn’t a honker then!

Mind you, it’s not a completely excellent album either, and in a lot of ways it is a demonstration of what is wrong with IDM just now. The innovation just isn’t there any more, and it has begun to sound as safe as any other genre. Bruxist Frog mostly consists of pleasant and safe melodies, and styles that can be traced back to the 1980s.

There are some good moments in this album though. I particularly give my thumbs-up to ‘Run Loop God’.

Sad to see such a great label go.

27. Ceephax — Volume One

Hmm, I experimented a lot with buying my first album by a lot of artists last year. This one is Ceephax’s Volume One. It’s an album of reasonably good 8-bit style retro goodness, with a good sense of humour mixed in.

There is some banging stuff here, but my favourites are the more melodic and pleasant tunes. The highlight for me is ‘TX Jammer’.

I’m not sure if it’s convinced me to buy more Ceephax / Acid Crew stuff, but this is a fairly good album.

26. Battles — Atlas

The only reason this is so far down is because it is really a single. Apart from ‘Atlas’, this only contains a DJ Koze remix of Atlas. But it has to be mentioned because it pointed the way to the phenomenon of the year and definitive proof that there is still room for innovation in the world of music.

The song came as a shock to fans of Battles. It marked a fairly radical departure from their previous material. The in-your-face vocals (which some have likened to the Chipmunks) took some getting used to.

But that is the point. It is challenging, but also wonderfully fun. All music should be like this.

The album version is great enough, but Atlas really comes into its own in live form. That’s what Battles are all about. As a studio album, Mirrored is great, but it is most astonishing to see these sounds being made live. Here they are performing it on Later with Jools Holland.

25. Clark — Throttle Promoter

At last, Clark moves into new territory. Throttle Promoter is a teaser EP for Clark’s ’surprise’ upcoming album, Turning Dragon, which is due out later this month.

It certainly makes a change for Warp, whose hype machine usually can’t resist announcing new albums several months ahead of their release, making for an agonising wait for the sometimes obsessive fans of Boards of Canada and the like. Another treat for fans is that you get 25% off the new album by entering the serial number from the runout groove on Throttle Promoter.

As for the music, it is a pleasing change of direction. Gone are the overly-intricate backdrops. There is clearly an emphasis here on just producing good, fun tunes. ‘Kin Griff’ reminds me a bit of Aphex Twin’s ‘Naks Acid’, in a good way. It bodes well for Turning Dragon.

24. Bumps — Bumps

The percussion section of Tortoise decided to make their own album of “raw, drums, breaks, beats”. I guess it will do while we wait for a new Tortoise album.

As you would expect, it is masterful. Being essentially an album of drumming and little else, there is obviously little in the way of melody. But that doesn’t keep this from being a captivating — if brief — album.

Most of the tracks are quite short, and there is little breathing space between them. Yet the album covers a surprisingly large variety of moods and styles. If you’re a fan of Tortoise, you should definitely pick this up, although I fear lots of people will have missed it on the radar.

23. !!! — Myth Takes

I have to admit to being slightly disappointed by this album. !!! always felt to me like a band who could achieve more than they did, and Myth Takes is a bit of a missed opportunity.

There are some top songs here. ‘Must Be the Moon’, ‘Heart of Hearts’ and ‘Sweet Life’ all deserve a special mention. But they don’t reach the heights of previous !!! songs ‘Me And Giuliani Down By the School Yard (A True Story)’ or ‘Intensify’.

Video: Must Be the Moon

22. Boom Bip — Sacchrilege

A welcome change in direction for Boom Bip. I did not take to his last album. It sounded like he was becoming an old man. The punchy Sacchrilege is a great comeback. A bouncy, dancey joy. I hope this EP is a taste of things to come from Boom Bip.

Also, Sacchrilege has the best packaging of the year for my money. Even by Lex’s high artwork standards, this is a cracker. Styled like some fantasy confectionery box, with the winning combination of hot pink and baby blue. Best of all, you pull out the record to find that it is pink coloured vinyl!

21. Luke Vibert — Chicago, Detroit, Redruth

A fine album, further improving on the style developed in previous Luke Vibert albums YosepH and Lovers Acid. For me, the track ‘Comfycozy’ is a highlight of the year. It sounds like a genius mashup of two long-lost Muzak classics.

There are some other top-notch tracks to be found here — ‘Brain Rave’ and ‘Swet’ spring to mind. Having said that, the quality isn’t consistently high throughout the entire album. But it’s definitely worth a look.