Paul Lansky: Homebrew

In this five-track collection of computer music, Lansky creates evocative compositions out of domestic sounds and the noises of suburbia. It's one of his most consistent works, too. "Table's Clear" takes as its base the sound of Lansky's two sons turning their kitchen into a large drumkit, with makeshift mixing bowls-turned-drums and such arranged into more and more complex rhythms. "Night Traffic" manipulates the sound of a four-lane highway into a group of random crescendos. "Now and Then" is a slightly obvious agglomeration of fairy-tale phrases mentioning time. "Quakerbridge" is the most emotional piece here, a ghostly reverberation of sounds heard in a shopping mall — treacly muzak and all. Great melancholy hangs from this work. Lastly, "The Sound of Two Hands" chops up and re-arranges a collection of handclaps, slaps, snaps, and much more, a closing companion piece to the opening track. Lansky succeeds in showing that out of the most modest of sources, interesting music can arise.