Snd

The second landmark release from the collaboration between Markus Popp of Oval and Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars offers more of the band's techno-ambient experimentation. Popp injects Oval's sense of technological subversion (painted and scratched CDs, digitally deconstructed samples) while St. Werner offers ambient textures that seem to soothe the more brusque, chilly components of Popp's constant subterfuge. Heady, intellectual stuff, yes, but a hatful of intricate, detailed, and often beautiful experimental composition. --S. Duda