Enjoy the Art of Lying Down

Darrin Wiener (aka Plastiq Phantom) certainly has a knack for the eerie, the charming, and the experimental. He's one of a number of young American IDM assassins that aim to bring a sense of warmth and emotion back to the hard-edged realm of intelligent dance music. Enjoy the Art of Lying Down is just the record to reacquaint the electronic world with feeling as it is an assemblage of found-sound samples that Wiener recorded during his daily walks in the city of Seattle. Sounds such as people bumping each other and Wiener's own stepping into sticky sidewalk substances make it onto the record and into the interwoven beats. It's possible that this is as autobiographical as electronic music can get. Enjoy the Art of Lying Down is practically wordless save a few voice samples from Public Enemy and educational films. Essentially, the record suffers only from its constant jumpiness as there is hardly a steady theme throughout. Tracks like "Kicking Mister Bubbles" hint at '70s progressive rock while others are glitchy electronic clips or attempts to reinvent classical composition — a sort of Switched On for the new millennium. Wiener's musical and production skills are undeniable, but the album as a whole lacks the structure to make it a complete listening experience.