this is one of those minimalist, clinical, dark (no horns), and spacey (think PiL) dubs whose influence is felt more in electronic circles (downtempo, trip-hop, dubstep) than in rock. and my god has it stood the test of time - a lot of these cuts could be DJ Shadow or Massive Attack mixes. "Earthwire Line", with its skittering rhythms and off-kilter guitar lines, is a straight up trip-hop song that sounds like an early Air or Beta Band single. the disembodied vocal processing on the title track belongs in a James Blake or Thom Yorke project. closer "Final Frontier" features an ingenious use of the drum track, with the sound envelope constantly evolving and using timbre as the element that pushes the track forward. a ground-breaking and relatively unheralded album that draws a straight line between early 80s music and the "innovations" of the past 15 years of groove-based electronica.

better know a dub-strict!