General Fuzz has composed yet another stellar album following the cool undertones that was Messy's Pace. Properly named Cool Aberrations, the album is a blend of pulsing beats and calming melodies. "Acclimation" guides the listener into what would be a journey into a landscape of soothing tracks, think early morning sun rays, and dozens of collaborations with other talented musicians in the tracks that would follow.

Progressing into a more hard-edged sound, "Flow Tater", "Fugal" and "The Grenabler" are faster-paced tracks with an industrial overtone in mind. Further down, "Reasonable Ability" and "Cliff Notes" takes easy listening and chucks it out the window, cutting edge rhythms brings back nostalgic scenes of Beverly Hills Cop as it actually sounds like it belongs in one of those kinds of movie scenes.

Moving along, "Baby Steps" is a refuge from the previous tracks, easing into a second laid back sound to kick back to. "Cream" just makes you want to wear a hat and throw it up like graduation day after a grueling four years of collegiate test-cramming. Although the next track, "Summer",  levels the mood down a bit on the soft side of things, a good track nonetheless. "Reflective Moment" is just that, quiet and a song you can definitely look up in the stars with and prepare you for, almost, the exodus of the album. After a hard day of work, "Accoustic Junction" will no doubt, take you to that happy place where your good thoughts are.

The amount of collaboration and thought that was put in the album shows in the audio experience that General Fuzz planned for his listeners, in which they will probably find worthy to be put on their players for weeks. Check out their official site at www.generalfuzz.net where a detailed account of the story behind and the artists involved in the collaborations can be found, at the tunes section. Don't miss it!

Best of all - the music is free!

Good downtempo electronic music often has the ability to suck you a new different world of the artist's design. As Reverse E's Bio Illogical Weh Woh began to play, I wasn't transported. Within seconds the vocalist has taken over and the albums structure manifests—Bio Illogical Weh Woh is a set of what sounds at first like traditionally constructed pop songs leaning towards trip-hop.  But where groups like Lamb and Portishead leave you, at points, with vocal-less stretches in which to really settle into their grooves. Reverse E only at a few points ever really disconnects the music from the lyrics.

But then by the fourth track, "Shame," I am suddenly inside the album and realize I have been there since the beginning. It hits me by surprise that what at first blush appeared to be a series of pop songs has come together to create a cohesive whole. Bio Illogical Weh Woh is a starlit bohemian circus.

The opening track, "The Windows," introduces the sudden shifts in sound and tempo that characterize much of the album. The first song also introduces the important role that the vocalist will play in leading the tracks to make their intended impression.  

"Mr. E" is a guitar driven outing with a steady drum track that creates an accelerating momentum reminiscent of the more electronic side of Garbage.

"Shame" and "Settle Down" are the most aggressive statements of the carnival/circus theme. Just enough stray noises and static reveal that this isn't the circus of your childhood, but is, instead, the home of derelicts and sideshows.

One of the more interesting tracks on the album is their Thievary Corporation like exploration of downtempo dub in "Dub Spencer Must Die." Harsh electronic samples play in the background of sparse jazz piano and tenor sax. A dub-esque bass line kicks in and the vocals go dub with reverb and take on a reggae snippet styling.  The song doesn't fit completely with the overall feel of the album, but is interesting, nonetheless.

The next to last track, titled "Last Song," really closes out the predominant theme of the album with a solid vocal and accordion progression. The song subtly creates the feeling of an inevitable march to the end and would be a perfect way to complete the album.

Yet, the album proceeds for one more go in "Heavy Nepal"  a heavy guitar driven rock with a steady blues rock bass line. There are really no hints of the strong electronic influences of the rest of the album. Although "Heavy Nepal" is a solid track, it is unclear where it fits with the rest of the album. 

Overall, Bio Illogical Weh Woh provides an interesting experience.  On first listen, the albums seems to have what appears to be jagged unfinished edges, but with further listening any sense of that incompleteness seems to fade.  It is worth a listen and certainly suggests some interesting places Reverse E could go in the future.

Reverse E is Elisa Zoot and Ariel Lerner. Though both Italians, the two have recently relocated to London's Crouch End. Reverse E records with Antimatter Music, an independent label based in Glasgow, Scotland.

Visit Reverse E here or their MySpace site here.