Ricardo Villalobos - Thé Au Harem D'Archimède

First of all, this guy is a production virtuoso. Villalobos is in the same league as Alex Patterson and Richard D. James.

This release is no exception to his brilliant catalogue of music. The album is bookended by the two best tracks: "hireklon" and "true to myself." They are two of the most hypnotizing electonic music tracks I've heard.

While tech-house and especially minimalistic techno can begin to eat away at your consciousness after a while, Villalobos's work is a ray of sunshine.

In the case of this album though, that ray of sunshine is warm but dark. These tracks wreak of menace and brilliance. Highly, highly recommended.

ps. If you are like me and rate the tracks on your albums, here's a tip: the worst track is "Hello Halo"--but since he's so far above most other producers, it's still pretty good.

This is a flat out brilliant release. It has the classic Villalobos feel. But, if I needed to add an additional adjective to that it would be 'experimental.' He starts off with some stormers in Hireklon and Serpentin. He hadds some interesting strings in Hireklon to complete the piece. There is no 'formula' in place for any of these tracks and they each have a mind of their own.