Product Review

"It's the same series of signals over and over again," a disembodied voice exclaims at the start of "Interstellar Hardrive." And so it is (mostly)! B-movie banter, Rezillos riffs, space-age sonic madness, frantic surf-guitar runs, sci-fi steals, valiant Ventures valedictions, scrambled transmission signals, myopic vocals, and flaming televisual heads--and that's only the first three tracks. This time around, however, the retro-future outfit with about 50 releases to their credit expand into near-techno territory (check out the excellent, spooky "Domain of the Human Race" and full-on silver-jumpsuit fest of "Engines of Difference"). "Psychology of A.I. (Numbers Follow Answers)," meanwhile, is unrequited fuzzy punk. In all, a fully realized album, and definitely one of Man or Astro-Man?'s finest moments. --Everett True