Dots – Dots

If this were really intended by Atom - TM aka Uwe Schmidt as basically "elevator music", then it could be one of the greatest cases of unintended consequences in music. The title track "Dots", for example, is anything but: it sounds very much like your Sunday visit to the carnival dissolving into a sort of sinister unreality due to your sno cone having been spiked with 500 mics of acid. And perhaps the "dots" refer to the LSD micro-dots of counterculture fame? Titles of other tracks, such as "Friendly Cortex", "Spinout Segment", and "Stain (Dot)" (with repeated fart-like sounds that are hard to miss) only reinforce the psychedelic effects of this music. The final track "Tonic Edge" could be the perfect soundtrack for your next elevator ride to an alternate universe where bouncy, inscrutable elves will cheer you on. Intended or not, the effect on the listener is psychotropic and otherworldly - in the best sense of these words. All in all, quite wonderful stuff, regardless of the intention.

Distant ambient throb like the chirps of idling medical equipment. At times, "Dots" sounds like it may be playing from the stereo inside a car parked a couple of blocks away. Simple, nearly weightless/motionless repeating patterns... but rather than mere background "elevator music" (as the artist describes it), this stuff has some sharp edges that irritate. That's not a bad quality (at least, not to me), but it's also not as simple as the album may initially seem.