Latest releases reviewed

BLOCKHEAD Downtown Science Ninja Tune ***

New Yorker Tony Simon may earn the bulk of his shekels as a producer for Cage (the stellar Hell's Winter), Aesop Rock and Mike Ladd, but his real craftsmanship lies in sculpting and shaping downtempo, slow-motion instrumentals. Last year's Music by Cavelight album was a collection of songs submerged in icy, cool strings, and, while Downtown Science is somewhat closer to the fire in terms of warmth, it's still atmospheric showboating of a highly commendable kind. Pitched as Simon's tribute to his patch in lower Manhattan, Downtown Science's biggest achievement is how it matches both rough ambiences and sweet sounds without losing the plot. It means that for every atmospheric scene-setter (Quiet Storm, First Snowfall) there's also a cop-show theme tune in waiting (Stop Motion Traffic, the haunting, epic drift of Expiration Date) to give some balance and counterweight. www.ninjatune.net

Jim Carroll

PULSEPROGRAMMING Tulsa for One Second Remix Project Aesthetics ***

PBack in 2003, a beautifully emotional album called Tulsa for One Second stole many hearts. The wows it received allowed Marc Hellner and Joel Kriske to roam far and wide and, as other individual projects have come along to steal time and attention, this set of remixes is an excuse for one final hurrah for the duo. Remixes as reinventions usually work best when the remixer knows what he or she is doing, and there's some fine handiwork in evidence here. Static's Off to Do Showery Snapshots is a melancholic slow-burner, messing with tempos and patterns to create an off-kilter, hypnotic torch song. The arch classicism of Sylvain Chaveau's Within the Orderly Life and the folky, familiar twists which Schneider TM finds in Suck or Run also impress, but many of the other remixes send you back to the original album to rediscover what impressed you the first time around. www.aesthetics-usa.com

Jim Carroll