4 out of 5

Label: Rephlex

Produced by: Pierre Bastien

Pierre Bastien always occupied an interesting noise-space amidst the Rephlex roster.  While perhaps fulfilling some (completely imagined) high-level prerequisite of having programmatic elements – his ‘mecanoid’ orchestra of robots belted and looped to play various tones and instruments – the produced sound ends up being, oddly, one of the most humanistic and organic collections of chattering musicality produced by any given artist, or band, and especially one appearing on an electronic label.  ‘Mecanoid’ is prone to that which comes with Bastien’s style, and is evident on most of his releases: structured around repeating elements, conclusions are often a tad lacking, and there are tracks that will come across more as experiments in mood than fully considered songs.  But because the overall effect is so unique – an undoubtedly mechanical array of clicking and buzzing and beats, but played loosely, prone to off-timed moments, and then woven through with various enhancements from Bastien – the journey through a Bastien album is almost always worth the slight hiccups.

Mecanoid, at ten tracks, has a couple of said ‘experiments’ – No Eon’s strained horn line wants to be something more but Pierre doesn’t seem clear on how to elevate the track beyond where it begins; Revel Ever is bizarrely cold, before completely transforming midway through to something awesome and bright, only the two halves really come across as completely separate songs – but this comes alongside the amazing centerpiece, Tender Red Net, one of Pierre’s most lush tracks, morphing through grand tonal shifts and taking on and shedding affectations with ease, and the fittingly strutting plod of opener Damn Mad, and the sultry jazz-lite of Avid Diva…  And more.  When a track’s particular set of repeating elements starts to wear thin, it ends, and the next track brings a new and surprising and satisfying array of mecannoed noise.