SIANspheric's third album is a quasi-compilation that collects three live tracks, three remixes of "Where the Planets Revolve..." (from 1995's Somnium), and a few unreleased jams. Two of the live tracks -- "Watch Me Fall" and "To Myself" (recorded at the 1996 Halifax Pop Explosion) -- are crushing drone-pop dirges, powerful and effective even compared to their original versions. The remixes (produced by Play.Pause) are also done well; they're surprisingly polished compared to those by notorious indie-jungle heads like
Third Eye Foundation. The first remix is "Planet Hal," a dark-stepping drum'n'bass track with a programming complexity on par with respected junglists like Boymerang and Aphrodite, while the other two -- "Planet Red Naxela" and "Planet Ag Negav" -- are heavily processed drone pieces with a restrained beauty to them. Coming in the wake of dozens of indie-remix projects,
Else succeeds much better than most. ~ John Bush