**1/2 Oval

DOK

(Thrill Jockey)

Oval make music out of glitches. On their previous releases, they exploited the clicks and bleeps produced by broken, scratched, painted CDs. Here, they turn to the analog world for their erroneous inspiration -- specifically, the found-sound sample library of Tokyo sound wiz Christophe Charles, who recorded bells around the world for the collaboration. Oval reprocess these bell sounds into a lush tonal soundscape populated with deep bass and digital static -- think of a church-bell choir given MIDI gear and an overload of deconstructionist philosophy. Dok lacks the gentle aggression and subtle danger of Oval's debut, Systemisch; much safer and cleaner, it reprograms the boundary between analog and digital, filling the space with a truly massive acoustic presence. The end result may be less than revolutionary, but Dok does give ordinary bells a whole new personality.

-- Chris Tweney