Like Aphex Twin, Autechre are about as close to being techno superstars as the tenets of the genre and the limitations of its audience will allow. Through a series of full-length works and a smattering of EPs on Warp, Clear, and their own Skam label, the group have consistently garnered the praise of press and public alike. Unlike many of their... [+] Read More

Like Aphex Twin, Autechre are about as close to being techno superstars as the tenets of the genre and the limitations of its audience will allow. Through a series of full-length works and a smattering of EPs on Warp, Clear, and their own Skam label, the group have consistently garnered the praise of press and public alike. Unlike many of their more club-bound colleagues, however, Autechre's Sean Booth and Rob Brown have roots planted firmly in American electro, and though the more mood-based, sharply digital texture of their update may seem to speak otherwise, it was through early twelves like Egyptian Lover's "Egypt, Egypt," Grandmaster Flash's "Scorpio," and "Pretty" Tony Butler's "Get Some" that their combined aesthetic began to form.

Booth and Brown met through a mutual friend, trading junked-up pause-button mixtapes of their favorite singles back and forth. Happening onto some bargain-basement analog gear through questionable circumstances, the pair began experimenting with their own music before they were out of high school. After some disastrous experiences with a few small labels, the pair sent a tape off to Warp Records, whose early releases by Sweet Exorcist, Nightmares on Wax, and B12 were announcing a new age in U.K.-based techno (and one that Autechre would become a key component in). Releasing a handful of early singles through the label, Autechre's first stabs were collected on their debut full-length, Incunabula, as well as the ten-inch box-set remix EP Basscadet. Subsequent albums would reach a wider audience through stateside reissue, first on Wax Trax!/TVT, later on Nothing (the label managed by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor), and finally through a stateside branch of Warp. Although stylistically rooted, affectations for the ponderous extend beyond their name and track titles ("C/Pach," "Bronchusevenmx24") with the basic premise of their approach being music without a whole lot of stylistic baggage but plenty of DSP'ed-to-death hyper-programming -- easily one of the most distinctive sounds in the world of electronica.

In addition to Autechre, Booth and Brown have released material as Gescom on their own Skam imprint and through the Clear label, most notably The Sounds of Machines Our Parents Used EP on the latter. The group have also provided a number of memorable remixes (often times more memorable than their original material) for artists including Palmskin Productions, Slowly, Mike Ink, DJ Food, Scorn, Skinny Puppy, Tortoise, Phoenecia, and Various Artists. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Exploring the experimental possibilities inherent in acid and ambience, the two major influences on home-listening techno during the late '80s, Richard D. James' recordings as Aphex Twin brought him more critical praise than any other electronic artist during the 1990s. Though his first major single, "Didgeridoo," was a piece of acid thrash... [+] Read More

Exploring the experimental possibilities inherent in acid and ambience, the two major influences on home-listening techno during the late '80s, Richard D. James' recordings as Aphex Twin brought him more critical praise than any other electronic artist during the 1990s. Though his first major single, "Didgeridoo," was a piece of acid thrash designed to tire dancers during his DJ sets, ambient stylists and critics later took him under their wing for Selected Ambient Works 85-92, a sublime touchstone in the field of ambient techno. James' reaction to the exposure portrayed an artist unwilling to become either pigeonholed or categorizable. His second Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2, was so minimal as to be barely conscious -- in what appeared to be an elaborate joke on the electronic community. Follow-ups showed James gradually returning to his hardcore and acid roots, even while his stated desire to crash the British Top Ten (and perform on Top of the Pops) resulted in a series of cartoonish pop songs whose twisted genius was near-masked by their many absurdities. His iconoclastic behavior surprisingly aligned with MTV audiences turned on to end-of-the-millennium nihilist pop along the lines of Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails.

James began taking apart electronics gear as a teenager growing up in Cornwall, England. (If the title Selected Ambient Works 85-92 is to be believed, it contains recordings made at the age of 14.) Inspired by acid house in the late '80s, James began DJing raves around Cornwall. His first release was the Analogue Bubblebath EP, recorded with Tom Middleton and released on the Mighty Force label in September 1991. Middleton left later that year to form Global Communication, after which James recorded a second volume in the Analogue Bubblebath series. This EP (the first to include "Digeridoo") got some airplay on the London pirate radio station Kiss FM, and prompted Belgium's R&S Records to sign him early the following year. A re-recording of "Digeridoo" made number 55 in the British charts just after its April 1992 release date, and James followed with the Xylem Tube EP in June. He also co-formed (with Grant Wilson-Claridge) his own Rephlex label around that time, releasing a series of singles as Caustic Window during 1992-1993. Available in cruelly limited editions, most of the recordings continued the cold acid precision of "Digeridoo" -- though several expressed humor and fragility barely dreamed of in the hardcore/rave scene to that point.

The climate for "intelligent" techno had begun to warm in the early '90s, though. The Orb had proved the commercial viability of ambient house with their chart-topping "Blue Room" single, and R&S scrambled to find useful material from its own artists. In November 1992, James acquiesced with Selected Ambient Works 85-92, consisting mostly of home material recorded during the past few years. Simply stated, it was a masterpiece of ambient techno, the genre's second work of brilliance after the Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld. As his star began to shine, several bands approached him to remix their work, and he complied, with mostly unrecognizable reworkings of tracks by St. Etienne, the Cure, Jesus Jones, Meat Beat Manifesto, and Curve.

Early in 1993, Richard James signed to Warp Records, the influential British label that virtually introduced the concept of futuristic "electronic listening music" with a series of albums (subtitled Artificial Intelligence) by ambient techno pioneers Black Dog, Autechre, B12, and FUSE (aka Richie Hawtin) among others. James' release in the series, titled Surfing on Sine Waves, was recorded as Polygon Window and released in January 1993. The album charted a course between the raw muscle of James' nose-bleed techno and the understated minimalism of Selected Ambient Works. A deal between Warp and TVT gave Surfing on Sine Waves an American release (James' first) by the summer. A second album was released that year, Analogue Bubblebath 3, for Rephlex. Recorded as AFX, the LP renounced any debt to ambient music and was the most bracing work yet in the Aphex Twin canon. On a tour of America with Orbital and Moby later that year, James clung to the headbanging material, to the detriment of his mostly unreplaceable gear. He later cut down on his live performance schedule.

In December of 1993, the new single "On" resulted in James' highest chart placing, a number 32 spot on the British charts. The two-part single included remixes by old pal Tom Middleton (as Reload) and future Rephlex star µ-Ziq. Despite James' appearance on the pop charts, his following album, Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2, appeared to be a joke on the ambient techno community. So minimal as to be barely conscious, the quadruple album left most of the beats behind, with only tape loops of unsettling ambient noise remaining. The album mostly struck out with critics but hit number 11 on the British charts and earned James a major-label American contract with Sire soon afterward. During 1994, he worked on the ever-growing Rephlex stable, signing µ-Ziq (Michael Paradinas), Kosmik Kommando (Mike Dred), and Kinesthesia/Cylob (Chris Jeffs) to the label. In August 1994, he released the fourth Analogue Bubblebath, this one a five-track EP.

The year 1995 began with the January release of Classics, a compilation of his early R&S singles. Two months later, James released the single "Ventolin," a harsh, appropriately wheezing ode to the asthma drug on which he relied. I Care Because You Do followed in April, pairing his hardcore experimentalism with more symphonic ambient material, aligned with the work of many post-classical composers -- including Philip Glass, who arranged an orchestral version of the album's "Icct Hedral" on the August 1995 single Donkey Rhubarb.

Later that year, the Hangable Auto Bulb EP replaced Analogue Bubblebath 3 as Aphex Twin's most brutal, uncompromising release -- a fusion of experimental music and jungle being explored at the same time on releases by Plug and Squarepusher. In July 1996, Rephlex released the long-awaited collaboration between Richard James and Michael Paradinas (µ-Ziq). The album, Expert Knob Twiddlers (credited to Mike & Rich), watered down the experimentalism of Aphex Twin with µ-Ziq's easy-listening electro-funk. The fourth proper Aphex Twin album, November 1996's Richard D. James Album, continued his forays into acid-jungle and experimental music. Retaining the experimental edge, but with a stated wish to make the British pop charts, James' next two releases, 1997's Come to Daddy EP and 1999's Windowlicker EP, were acid storms of industrial drum'n'bass. The accompanying videos, both directed by Chris Cunningham, featured the bodies of small children and female models (respectively) dancing around, all with special-effects-created Aphex Twin faces grinning maniacally.

James released nothing during the year 2000, but did record the score to Flex, a Chris Cunningham short film exhibited as part of the Apocalypse exhibition at London's Royal Academy. With very little advance warning, another LP, Drukqs, finally arrived in late 2001. Although James continued making frequent DJ appearances, he released no more material until 2005, when Rephlex issued the first installment in a lengthy, 11-part series of 12" singles titled Analord. The singles' minimalist acid techno harked back to his Caustic Window/Analogue Bubblebath material of the early '90s. Chosen Lords, a CD compilation of some of the Analord material, appeared in April 2006. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide [-] Hide

A pioneer of the acid house sound, 808 State formed in Manchester, England in 1988 when Martin Price, the owner of the city's legendary record store Eastern Bloc and the founder of the independent label Creed, first joined forces with local musician and producer Graham Massey. After teaming with collaborator Gerald Simpson, 808 State recorded... [+] Read More

A pioneer of the acid house sound, 808 State formed in Manchester, England in 1988 when Martin Price, the owner of the city's legendary record store Eastern Bloc and the founder of the independent label Creed, first joined forces with local musician and producer Graham Massey. After teaming with collaborator Gerald Simpson, 808 State recorded its debut EP Newbuild in 1988, and also began remixing tracks for groups like the Inspiral Carpets. After Simpson exited to form his solo project A Guy Called Gerald, Price and Massey enlisted DJs Andrew Barker and Darren Partington (known together as the Spinmasters) for the recording of 1989's Quadrastate EP, which earned the group a huge club hit with the track "Pacific." After signing with ZTT, they released the album 808:90, which was embraced by the burgeoning rave culture. 808 State's next single, "The Only Rhyme That Bites," recorded with hip-hopper MC Tunes, marked a dramatic shift into hardcore rap, but was another huge hit. A series of diverse singles followed, culminating in the 1991 album Ex: El, which featured guest vocals from New Order's Bernard Sumner and Bjork; the same year, 808 State also wrote, produced and performed the music for the MC Tunes LP The North at Its Heights. In 1992, Price left to work as a solo producer, later forming his own label, Sun Text. The remaining trio continued on in 1993 with Gorgeous, and handled remix work for the likes of David Bowie, Soundgarden, and Bomb the Bass before returning with the experimental Don Solaris in 1996. The 808:88-98 compilation followed two years later. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide [-] Hide

German post-techno duo Mouse on Mars is among a growing number of electronic music groups dabbling in complex, heavily hybridized forms that include everything from ambient, techno, and dub to rock, jazz, and jungle. The combined efforts of Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner (of Köln and Düsseldorf, respectively), Mouse on Mars formed in 1993,... [+] Read More

German post-techno duo Mouse on Mars is among a growing number of electronic music groups dabbling in complex, heavily hybridized forms that include everything from ambient, techno, and dub to rock, jazz, and jungle. The combined efforts of Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner (of Köln and Düsseldorf, respectively), Mouse on Mars formed in 1993, reportedly when Werner and Toma met either at a death metal concert or a health food store. Working from Werner's studio, the pair fused an admiration for the early experiments of Krautrock outfits like Can, Neu!, Kluster, and Kraftwerk into an offbeat update including influences from the burgeoning German techno and ambient scenes. A demo of material found its way to London-based guitar-ambient group Seefeel, who passed it on to the offices of their label, Too Pure.

MOM's first single, "Frosch," was released by the label soon after and was also included on the debut album, Vulvaland. Immediately hailed for its beguiling, inventive edge that seemed to resist all efforts at easy "schublade" (an even less flattering approximation of the English "pigeonhole"), Vulvaland was reissued in 1995 by (oddly) Rick Rubin's American Recordings label, which also released their follow-up, Iaora Tahiti, soon after. More upbeat and varied than their debut, the album made some inroads into the American marketplace, but the group's somewhat challenging complexity and steadfast refusal to pander make widespread popularity unlikely. They returned in 1997 with three different releases -- the EP Cache Coeur Naif, the LP Autoditacker, and the vinyl-only Instrumentals. Another vinyl-only release (Glam) appeared in 1998, and was followed a year later by the "official" follow-up to Autoditacker, Niun Niggung.

Although remixes are rare, Mouse on Mars began appearing with increasing frequency on compilations of experimental electronic music, including Volume's popular Trance Europe Express series. They were also prominently featured on a pair of tribute albums -- Folds and Rhizomes and In Memoriam -- dedicated to French poststructuralist philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Idiology, which introduced percussionist/collaborator Dodo Nkishi into the fold, followed in 2000 on Thrill Jockey. In 2004, the duo celebrated a decade's worth of work with the release of Radical Connector and a global tour, which was captured by 2005's concert album Live04. The following year's hard-hitting Varcharz was released by Ipecac. St. Werner also has recorded as half of the duo Microstoria (with Oval's Markus Popp) and solo as Lithops. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide [-] Hide

One of the premiere names in the field of electronic home-listening music, Mike Paradinas' recordings retained the abrasive flavor of early techno pioneers and explored the periphery of experimental electronica even while coddling to his unusual ear for melody, the occasional piece of vintage synthesizer, and distorted beatbox rhythms. While his... [+] Read More

One of the premiere names in the field of electronic home-listening music, Mike Paradinas' recordings retained the abrasive flavor of early techno pioneers and explored the periphery of experimental electronica even while coddling to his unusual ear for melody, the occasional piece of vintage synthesizer, and distorted beatbox rhythms. While his side projects -- including Diesel M, Jake Slazenger, Gary Moscheles, Kid Spatula, and Tusken Raiders -- have often emphasized (or satirized) his debts to jazz, funk, and electro, Paradinas reserved his most original and exciting work for major album releases as µ-Ziq. Early µ-Ziq LPs were based around the most ear-splitting buzz-saw percussion ever heard (in a musical environment or otherwise), with fast-moving though deceptively fragile synthesizer melodies running over the top. As Paradinas began weaving his various influences into a convincing whole, his work became more fully developed (though possibly not as exciting), a fluid blend of breakbeat hip-hop and drum'n'bass with industrial effects and the same brittle melodies from his earlier work.

Born in Wimbledon (though he grew up in several other spots around London), Paradinas began playing keyboards during the early '80s and listened to new wave bands like Human League and New Order. He joined a few bands in the mid-'80s, then spent eight years on keyboards for the group Blue Innocence. During that time, however, Paradinas had been recording on his own as well with synthesizers and a four-track recorder. When Blue Innocence disintegrated in 1992, he and bass player Francis Naughton bought sequencing software and re-recorded some of Paradinas' old material. After the material was played for Mark Pritchard and Tom Middleton -- the duo behind Global Communication and Reload as well as being the heads of Evolution Records -- they wanted to release it; recording commitments later forced Pritchard and Middleton to withdraw their agreement, though by that time Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) had also heard the tracks and agreed to release a double-album for his label, Rephlex Records.

The debut album for µ-Ziq (paraphrased from the side of a blank tape and pronounced "mew-zeek") was 1993's Tango N' Vectif. The LP set the template for most of Paradinas' later work, with at times shattering metal-cage percussion underpinning a collection of rather beautiful melodies. The Rephlex label was just beginning to flourish, with added journalistic attention paid to Aphex Twin's recent Selected Ambient Works 85-92, and though James began to feature less in label-doings than co-founder Grant Wilson Claridge, later Rephlex work by Cylob, Luke Vibert (aka Wagon Christ), Seefeel and Squarepusher made it among the cream of electronic home-listening labels.

When Naughton began taking college more seriously (something Paradinas had attempted briefly, from 1990 through 1992), he officially bowed out of µ-Ziq. Second album Bluff Limbo was scheduled to be released in mid-1994, though only 1000 copies made it out of the gate. (It was officially issued by Rephlex in 1996 after Paradinas served papers on the label.) Paradinas' first major-label release came later in 1994, after he undertook a remix project for Virgin Records. The EP µ-Ziq Vs. the Auteurs was one of the most high-profile examples of the remix-by-obliteration movement, a burgeoning hobby for many electronica producers in which a pop-song reworking would bear no resemblance to -- or trace of -- the original.

Though the EP was hardly a prime mover in the sales category, Virgin signed Paradinas to a hefty contract and gave him his own Planet µ sub-label to release his own work as well as develop similar-minded artists. Written into his own contract was a provision for unlimited recording under different names, and during 1995 Paradinas definitely took it to task: he unveiled three aliases and released as many albums in less than a year's time. The nu-skool electro label Clear released his debut single as Tusken Raiders early in the year; it mined the fascination with Star Warsand electro music shared by producers like Global Communication, Aphex Twin and James Lavelle, head of Mo' Wax Records. Clear also released the first Paradinas alias full-length, Jake Slazenger's MakesARacket, later in 1995. Although they were still audible, the LP downplayed his electro influences in favor of some rather cheesy synthesizer figures and a previously unheard debt to jazz-funk.

The distortion re-appeared on Paradinas' second LP of the year, Spatula Freak by Kid Spatula. The first American-only release of a Paradinas album (it appeared on Jonah Sharp's San Franciso-based Reflective Records), its sound had the metallic feel of the first two µ-Ziq LPs but with a less-dense production job. Just one month after Spatula Freak, Paradinas released his first proper µ-Ziq LP for a major label, In Pine Effect. The album included tracks recorded from 1993 to 1995, and though it was quite a varied album, the distance appeared to give it quite a disjointed feel.

Paradinas spent 1996 releasing a second Jake Slazenger album (Das Ist Groovy Beat Ja? for Warp) and his first as Gary Moscheles (Shaped to Make Your Life Easier for Belgium's SSR/Crammed Discs). Both LPs journeyed further down the queasy-listening route of the first Slazenger record, with departures into '80s-style party funk and surprisingly straight-ahead soul-jazz. He also owned a half-share in the Rephlex-released Expert Knob Twiddlers (credited as Mike & Rich), the fruit of Paradinas' 1994 recordings with the Aphex Twin.

Paradinas entered 1997 ready to undertake the most ambitious style makeover in his career; the fusion of his home-listening techno with the hypertensive rhythms of street-level drum'n'bass. One year earlier, Aphex Twin had released a single of schizophrenic jungle noodlings ("Hangable Auto Bulb"), and Tom Jenkinson's Squarepusher project had provided the first convincing headphone drum'n'bass act. Paradinas waded into the pool with Urmur Bile Trax, Vols. 1&2, a double-EP also released as one full-length compact disc. Though the change-over wasn't completely convincing, the next µ-Ziq full-length more than made up for expectations. Lunatic Harness presented a complete synthesis of the many elements in Paradinas' career, from synth-jazz-funk and beat-box electro through to ambient-techno and jungle. Though still unable to break through to a mainstream which had recently accepted Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers into the fold, Paradinas and µ-Ziq were introduced to many rock fans after he toured America as the support act for techno chanteuse Björk. [See Also: Kid Spatula, Jake Slazenger] ~ John Bush, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Autoditacker finds Mouse on Mars continuing to grow and improve, adding textures and detail to their dense, electronic soundscapes without compromising their sound. They still are indebted to Krautrock and dub, but they continue to add new sounds and styles to their music, including long ambient stretches and flirtations with drum'n'bass. There... [+] Read More

Autoditacker finds Mouse on Mars continuing to grow and improve, adding textures and detail to their dense, electronic soundscapes without compromising their sound. They still are indebted to Krautrock and dub, but they continue to add new sounds and styles to their music, including long ambient stretches and flirtations with drum'n'bass. There are no silent moments on Autoditacker -- every inch of the tape is filled with rhythms, keyboards, and electronic squiggles. Each listen reveals new layers of the group's intricate arrangements, and the shifting instrumentation and themes recall the best adventurous jazz in terms of unpredictability. It's another stunning record in a distinguished, inventive catalog. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Elements 1989-1990 compiles much of Carl Craig's earliest output before he started his own private Detroit techno label, Planet E, and began to achieve increasing levels of popularity with side projects such as Innerzone Orchestra and Paperclip People. While nowhere near as brilliant as Craig's other techno collection from the 1990s, More Songs... [+] Read More

Elements 1989-1990 compiles much of Carl Craig's earliest output before he started his own private Detroit techno label, Planet E, and began to achieve increasing levels of popularity with side projects such as Innerzone Orchestra and Paperclip People. While nowhere near as brilliant as Craig's other techno collection from the 1990s, More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art, this compilation demonstrates rather effectively just exactly why Detroit pioneers such as Derrick May and Mike Banks took Craig under their wings. Formally, Craig shadows all 12 of the recordings on this compilation with drifting layers of synthesizer tones, which linger in the distance throughout each of the tracks, evoking mysterious inhuman moods. While Craig's ambient synthesizer provides the emotional character, his primitive sampler and drum machine produce fuzzy percussive rhythms propelled with distorted bass beats. The haunting synthesizer melody of tracks such as "It's a Shame" -- a Derrick May anthem at the legendary Musical Institute -- radiate like beaming glimpses into nonsecular heavens. Similarly, the terribly distorted vocals on "Chicken Noodle Soup" and "Crackdown" may be the effect of low-budget recording, but they add ghostly feelings of ancient dreams lingering somewhere deep in the decayed remnants of Detroit. Even though fuzzy static sound of Elements 1989-1990 doesn't compare to the striking clarity of Craig's later work, its cobwebs and dusty decay provide it with tones of antiquity. Like long-forgotten childhood memories, the re-release of these now impossible-to-find early Detroit techno recordings is reason to celebrate. At times rough around the edges and perhaps a bit too simple in relation to Craig's later work, their efficient simplicity functions as the bridge between May's pioneering work as Rhythim Is Rhythim and Craig's more evolved output on More Songs About Food and Revolutionary Art. Within these songs lies an element of naiveté and a strong sense of ambition that would never be duplicated by Craig again, no matter how grand his ideas or genius his craft. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide [-] Hide

This Australian disc basically collects tracks from two Warp singles ("Ventolin," "Donkey Rhubarb") released by Aphex Twin during 1995. Besides the memorable A-sides, there are four remixes of "Ventolin" and the Philip Glass orchestration of "Icct Hedral." It's not quite the greatest-hits compendium that Aphex Twin needs, but it works well for...

This Australian disc basically collects tracks from two Warp singles ("Ventolin," "Donkey Rhubarb") released by Aphex Twin during 1995. Besides the memorable A-sides, there are four remixes of "Ventolin" and the Philip Glass orchestration of "Icct Hedral." It's not quite the greatest-hits compendium that Aphex Twin needs, but it works well for trainspotting fans. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Although Boards of Canada's blueprint for electronic listening music -- aching electro-synth with mid-tempo hip-hop beats and occasional light scratching -- isn't quite a revolution in and of itself, Music Has the Right to Children is an amazing LP. Similar to the early work of Autechre and Aphex Twin, the duo is one of the few European artists... [+] Read More

Although Boards of Canada's blueprint for electronic listening music -- aching electro-synth with mid-tempo hip-hop beats and occasional light scratching -- isn't quite a revolution in and of itself, Music Has the Right to Children is an amazing LP. Similar to the early work of Autechre and Aphex Twin, the duo is one of the few European artists who can match their American precursors with regard to a sense of spirit in otherwise electronic music. This is pure machine soul, reminiscent of some forgotten Japanese animation soundtrack or a rusting Commodore 64 just about to give up the ghost. Alternating broadly sketched works with minute-long vignettes (the latter of which comprise several of the best tracks on the album), Music Has the Right to Children is one of the best electronic releases of 1998. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Definitive collection of the new style electro-techno, with composition and dynamics taking equal play with groove and DJ-friendliness. Reissued by Tommy Boy in the U.S., the hip-hop connection was apparent in the few breakbeat tracks, but for the most part the record leans more toward acid house and techno for its cues. Recommended. ~ Sean...

Definitive collection of the new style electro-techno, with composition and dynamics taking equal play with groove and DJ-friendliness. Reissued by Tommy Boy in the U.S., the hip-hop connection was apparent in the few breakbeat tracks, but for the most part the record leans more toward acid house and techno for its cues. Recommended. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide [-] Hide