Ryoji IkedaDataplexReview

Ryoji Ikeda's biostates that his work exploits the'causality of sound with human perception'.It's a claim that makes sense when experiencing his music (especially in an installation or performance setting, where the bulk of his work has been for the past few years); Ikeda's minimalist, rigorous electronica seriously plays with the listener's head.

The first 19 tracksoriginate from tiny flecks of noise, clicks, and pulses of pure sine tones ranging from dogwhistle-high to bowel-shakingly low. They're arranged with surgical precision into short slices of minimalist art-techno; funky in a very cerebral, molecular sort of fashion, they're immersive (and by track 19) almost lush and strangely beautiful.

But be warned; a sticker on the sleeve says; "This CD contains specific waveform data that performs a data-read test for optical drives. The last track will cause some CD players to experience playback errors, with no damage to equipment". I think it left my CD player undamaged, but my psyche took a battering. Approach with caution...