The latest and greatest by Access to Arasaka goes by the name 'Geosynchron.' Part three of a pseudo triptych (started with 'Orbitus' and continued with 'Aleph') it proves to be the perfect climax. It is an expertly crafted journey through time, space and the unknown. It's songs draw their titles from equal parts mythology and space, and they really couldn't have been chosen better. Sole member Rob Lioy carefully constructs these works to near perfection, using lush textures and pads, drones and precision glitches, dotted throughout with what I liken to lost attempts of communication by the superior alien race. We are drawn through delicate, minimal pieces; digital soundscapes bathed in synths and vocoders; and full on glitched out complexities. There isn't a single track of filler, not a song to skip past and at no point does it get dull. The only potential moment of awkwardness is 'Lysithea' (featuring Jamie Blacker) where the flow of the record is just ever so slightly hindered by a very cold and lonely piece (in a good way, I assure you) where Blacker's vocals add a very different, almost goth feel to the piece. It is a great song, just as good as the rest, but feels just a tiny bit out of place with the rest of the album. That being said, it still doesn't take away an ounce of anything from 'Geosynchron.' Access to Arasaka is a name you'll want to remember and 'Geosynchron' is a record you'll want to play over and over again.

c.db.sn, also known as Chase Dobson is an American Producer. His second solo effort ''¦At the End of it All' is now available on Tympanik Audio. It's quite an interesting record, that weaves its way through lush textures, soft pads, soundscapes, electronic beats and full on glitch. His work has grown considerably since his debut 'Into the Deep' was released in 2008. The disc opens with a rich textural base, which sets the stage for the dubstep 'like beats and wobbly basses that populate the piece which is entitled 'The Stillness of Hours.' It then progresses to the title track, which I can only describe as tender hip hop; a very simple tune, maybe even too simple. We evolve through a variety of different fields of electronic, ambient, glitch, and IDM on this release, but it doesn't get REALLY great until track 5, 'A Silent Sea' with a good bit of diversity and very nice soundscapes that slowly lead into a solid glitch groove and back again. This is par for the course for most of the songs herein; those most worthy of note: 'Airport [Never_Land],' 'Data Transmit' and 'As if December Never Happened.' The only real downfall of this album, is that most of the beats and/or glitches, tend to be set on repeat, with little variation. I mean, there are really just that, LITTLE variations, which can cause several songs to begin to feel monotonous. The only other complaint I have, is the INCREDIBLE 'The Stars Falling Cold' is FAR too short, and doesn't get justice, but I think that's more of a positive than a negative really. All in all, a good record certainly worth a listen, maybe even a second listen, which is when this one really began to grow on me.

SRMEIXNER's 'Ten Thousand Ways to Die' draws its inspiration from the old spaghetti westerns that were so bountiful in the 60's and 70's. However, Meixner has chosen to focus on the less obvious elements and themes of these movies, many being borrowed from behind the scenes or the subtle undertones and hidden meanings within the films, though there are certainly moments when you don't have to be as well versed in their subculture to pick up on their influence. The opening piece entitled 'Something to Do With Death' spends more than two minutes teasing the listener with brief fade-ins of the buzzing of flies separated with awkward silence. The wait is paid off when more field recordings of insects and animals and darkness and night begin to layer in, really transporting you to the desert, under a pale, moonlit night where the echoes of the wild begin to ring in your head until maddening, deafening; until you're certain you may just be eaten alive and picked clean. The piece continues to evolve out of this with some more quiet ambience and manipulated dialogue samples. The record progresses through 6 songs full of field recordings, audio manipulations, drones and the occasional lone melody. 'Once Upon a Time, The Revolution' invokes a brief foray into darkness with its tense, dramatic layers which eventually melt away into an ambience broken only by more modified dialogue samples, which are quite effective. 'Too Much Gold is Bad For Your Health' opens into a pretty little melody almost baroque in nature, giving fast way to light ambience. Parts of this piece have such openness that they leave the listener little to invest in, but don't get me wrong, what DOES exist in these spaces is both light and beautiful. 'I Am Your Pallbearer' is both one of the more sinister pieces herein and also one of the few obvious references to the theme with some mean harmonica work which makes you think of hopping open train cars full of straw and drifters. Beneath that comes and goes, among other things, some very fitting Native American samples. The entire album has a rather seamless flow and is a good, solid listen from start to finish with plenty highs and just a few lows. Not to mention being the last release on the Swedish label Segerhuva, 'Ten Thousand Ways to Die' has not only a fitting title, but I think is a great swan song for the label.

The lights are out, tensions run high, you break a cold sweat... That is the image I get as 'Twist of Fate,' the collaborative effort of Lydia Lunch and Philippe Petit, begins to trickle down my ear canals. It is instantly eerie, with Petit providing dense textures and thick layers, creating an unsettlingly perfect bed for Lydia's occasionally melodic, always intense 'storytelling.' She does go back and forth every now and again, between spoken word and haunting singing, which surprisingly at times seems vaguely reminiscent of Ogre from Skinny Puppy's side project Ritalin. The layers and digital manipulations come and go, slowly fading in and out like some ocean of sonic fury whose waves relentlessly beat against a shore of bone dust and ash. At times Petit's soundscapes are so sparse, and light that they'll actually relax you just enough so that when the disembodied drones and reverb washed samples quickly creep back in, you feel that much more uneasy. This collection of just 8 songs is both dreamlike and haunting, with swirling evil, enveloping the senses. It'd be the perfect soundtrack for a psychological mindfuck. Not only that, but it comes with a 45 minute companion DVD of a live set performed by the pair, which features versions of many of the songs on the cd. The DVD is definitely more tense, jarring, dramatic. Petit's layers, textures and manipulations are even thicker still, with more of a harsh edge and noisy feel. Lydia's vocals are also noticeably darker and more frenetic; at points nearly reaching a banshee-like screech. She takes the original lyrics and brings them to new places, shifting tempos, ad-libbing, and just overall increasing the intensity tenfold. It's also quite interesting to watch Philippe working his craft, using Theremin like devices, laptops and even using such mundane items as a blown up balloon to build up the audio walls around him. The entire video portion is superimposed with a plethora of mood setting images such as visual textures, and even a wide variety of stills of Lunch, seemingly spanning her entire career. The music is definitely edgier and tenser on the DVD, and while the vocals have a certain magical sense of urgency to them, they are a bit more smooth, refined and evilly seductive on the CD. Together the DVD and CD make a great set; both a great listen and a great watch.

Fragile. Flicker. Fragment. So fitting a title for this, Monty Adkins' latest offering. A seasoned veteran of electroacoustics, has found a new direction of growth with not only this, but his previos release '5 Panels' as well. While his earlier work was more glitchy, erratic (not in a negative way) and densely populated, his newer work shows a different side of his psyche. Fragile. Flicker. Fragment is a very airy, sparsely populated, calm, meticulously crafted world. Here he has come up with an amalgam of field recordings, layers of textures both light and rich, digital manipulations and glitches with a small dose of traditional instrumentation embedded beneath. Pieces like 'Memory Box' truly evoke a feeling of browsing and accessing old memories of everyday life, while a just a few songs such as 'Remnant' build tension with a touch more noise, and deeper bass notes and tones. While this is definitely not an edge-of-your-seat ride, it's not meant to be. It's a single carefully constructed piece broken down into 9 songs, which flow seamlessly together. It's a thought provoking, intelligent listen. There may be a few moments where you find yourself distracted by the goings-on around you throughout the piece but you'll come right back when those textures begin layering back in or pings of music boxes draw a lonely melody or when the native jinglings change things up a bit. Overall it's a very calming yet evolving and transcending release that may be a little slower than planned at points, but remains interesting enough that you'll want to listen the whole way through without missing anything.