Alex Kruger (aka Dub Taylor, not to be confused with the late character actor of the same name) has ably shoehorned his production nuances to fit in with the Force Tracks crew, but Forms & Figures just might be a better, fuller realization of the Berlin producer's personality and nuances. As there seems to be a certain standard or a specific mode to be followed when producing tracks for Force Tracks, the fact that this record was released on a label that doesn't adhere to something of a rigid, defined style allows Kruger a little more freedom to mess around. As a result, there is much more variety throughout this record, which is a good thing. It gets a little messy from time to time and it could use a little streamlining, but when the record is compared to Detect, you can't help but feel as if you're getting something that is more true to the producer's heart. Most of Forms & Figures features tech-house with a pretty heavy Basic Channel-like affinity for dub thrown in for good measure. "Summer Rainbow," the most perfectly descriptive title and the best thing here, is a play on the BC school of muffled-sounding dub with a whole lot of smudgy effluvia. Similar to a rainbow seen far off in the distance, the track's brightness (i.e., the singsongy, repetitive vocals provided by a female named Eddie) is suffused in a thick, misty fog of dubby effects and crackling fuzz. Despite all the production effects, the beat lands hard and direct. While "Circular" and "Mutilated" also rip pages from the Berlin dub playbook of 1993-1997, they are fine rips nonetheless that build on the tradition more than mimic it. Throw an actual dub track in the middle of it all (meaning one that features a drum kit and a bass guitar), close out the record with a thrashy heap (meaning one that features some Metallica circa Kill 'Em All tempo tantrums), and there you have it: one fine record.