Everything Ecstatic

had every right to retreat from the folktronica tag stapled to his recordings. Although he was the premier name in the sub-subgenre, and although his productions transcended even the cutest label that could be attached to them, the folktronica term was too clever by half; more importantly, no respectable artist in the indie underground can stand idly by while he's being pigeonholed. Nevertheless, the left turn has taken into jumpy with 2005's will make listeners yearn for the clever, nuanced productions he turned in on and ; fortunately, he hasn't completely forsaken his old ways. Early in the program, sounds more clearly derivative than he ever has; the spotlight track has one of 's chipmunk divas blandly merging into a sunny-day production. begins with the menacing bell tones of an track and ends with the blatting horns of a workout, but the barrage of a percussion section never relents over six minutes. a criminally short interlude, is a turning point for -- all of the album's best moments occur on the second half (and they are very good). and the shifting epic are nominally productions, but they're some of the oddest and most attentively produced tracks to ever appear on record. (On the latter, the slight influences of are assimilated into the whole, not pasted on top.) The final track, transforms the sound of Balinese gongs into an isolated, nightmarish production with only a faint heartbeat for a rhythm track. Hopefully, using as necessary distance, can either return to the sound of his early records or transform his new direction into styles worthy of his production talents. ~ John Bush