Sketchi

Has Cex, that perennial enfant terrible, finally grown up and mellowed out? Judging from Sketchi's smart-alecky "Twins Towers" cover art, his sophomoric sense of humor is decidedly intact, but in musical terms this album — his first record of "straightforward" (and vocal-less) electronica since 2001's Oops, I Did It Again! (excepting the incidental Being Ridden Instrumentals) — is by some margin his most subtle and subdued ever. It's not a total break from his past work — it has a familiar blend of electronic and organic textures, and retains some of the live percussion focus of Know Doubt and Actual F*****g — but its studied minimalism and washed-out calm mark this as largely new territory for Cex. In some ways it feels like a response to several strands of abstract electronica that have developed since he abandoned that approach, back when it was still called IDM, with tracks ranging from the dubstep-inflected "Rattler Bin" to the blissful tribal drumming of "Gooby Says," Pole-esque dub reggae ("Damon Kvols"), and hazy, beatless pop ambient (the final two tracks). They all share a similar meditative quality, with various unidentifiable and occasionally haunting sounds flitting in and out over relatively static, repetitive drones and grooves. "Waiting 4 Yankovic" and "Oregon Ridge" feature slightly more aggressive live drums, but not enough to disrupt the general warm, floating vibe. Restrained, but generally inspired, ambient/new age relaxation music — it's hardly what we expect to hear from Cex, but then unpredictability has always been one of his few constants. Recommended. ~ K. Ross Hoffman, Rovi