by John Bush
Dylan Nathan's assortment of fragile melodies and schizophrenic percussion programming puts him right in line with the early output of Rephlex acts like Aphex Twin and µ-Ziq. Spectrum wears that influence on its sleeve, for better and worse. The result is an album of delightfully inventive, perhaps overly humorous &listening techno& that comes complete with two drill'n'bass corkers (&NIA& and &Manic Minor&), as many dark drum'n'bass tunes (&Intron.ix& and &Pitbull&), plus distinctively µ-Ziq melodies for the backgrounds of most other songs. Still, Nathan proves his programming skills are on a par with Paradinas or James on several tracks, including the time-stretched pins-and-needles of &Musical Chairz& and the jazzy &Red Mullet.&