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." ~ John Bush