An admirably diverse compilation of sounds ? some soothing, many crazed ? from Leeds? Mandolin Records. There?s not one song on here you could play around your grammy, as even the ambient ones have something unsettling going on ? the disturbing mutated bleeps of Ouzel Music?s ?Machiaishitsu,? for example, or the nervy background noises in Red THumbs? ?Feed.? It?s ambient music for a space in which something might jump out at you. Then there is Lord Mongo?s aptly named ?Sea Drone,? less a ?song? per se than a collection of evil-but-distant-sounding synth blasts. Memo to self: do not fuck with Lord Mongo. Mr. Disconnected follows with the barely-there ?Khat Show Host,? while the Autechre-like ?Body Clock,? by Illuminati (! Of the Illuminati?) brings things back to a recognizable kind of electronic piece. Xenis Emputae Travelling Band?s ?Lichen Virgin? employs an actual melody, a tremulous, beautiful one reminiscent of Vietnamese folk music, while Phase IV?s ?New Host? summons up Aphex Twin with a folky guitar figure overlaid on scatter beats. The comp fades into diffuseness again after that, with more video-game sounds, atmospherics, and groaning skronk. These are good qualities and Mandolin Records knows how to find the people and machines who can lay them down. 8/10 -- Sal Addays (26 September, 2005)