*** Squarepusher

BUDAKHAN MINDPHONE

(Nothing)

Even as sleek, futuristic images and emotional detachment seem to rule much of electronica, Squarepusher architect Tom Jenkinson produces drum 'n' bass-inflected music with feeling that's expressed through meandering bass lines and halting, shuffled beats. Budakhan Mindphone, a half-hour "mini-album," is no trendy film soundtrack -- it's more of a personal exploration. The bass and drums, which Jenkinson plays live, are manipulated and augmented with electro embellishments and techno beats, and xylophone provides an unusual and appealing addition to the mix; but he still creates a kind of spare intimacy, and an organic roughness that most computer-generated music lacks. Beats fade out and reappear in a different form, the bass passes almost indifferently over notes, dense percussion buzzes and keyboards wail while sampled mini-riffs occupy the spaces between the harder edged sounds. The instrumentation is complex without being messy, liberated yet elegant. The disc falters only under the overpowering keyboard surge at the end of "The Tide"; drowning may be the point here, but it's the breathing room on the rest of the album that gives the musical elements their individual power and collective beauty.

-- Nick Catucci