Coming in a deluxe matte cardboard sleeve with black on black artwork, "Substation" features Australian musicians Clayton Thomas, at double bass and objects, and Robin Fox, at live MAX/MSP processing, so you can guess what to expect: free-form improvisation filtered and re-structured via digital means, which is becoming a common approach to improvised music (as for double bass, think of Italy's Domenico Sciajno). "Substation" is a particularly successful work due to the care for variation and detail in every piece: "Shuffle", for example, is based on the accumulation of bowed chords loops, with a swarm-like effect, while a cascade of microscopic fragments makes "Dust on the Diodes" a particularly dizzying listen. Less surprising, but equally pleasant to the ear, are the high-end drone of "Bird Song" and the more subdued "Between Downpours", with a quieter but not less intense dialogue between the instruments.