Ken Gibson, aka (a)pendics.shuffle, aka Eight Frozen Modules, former member of Furry Things and remixer/producer of everyone and his robodog, makes dance music. However, he has a problem: he doesn't follow the formula that 50,000 other DJ/producers cling to. In other words, he couldn't give a crap about the 64-bar intro, the filter-sweep-bridge-from-the-breakdown-to-the-climax or the drama strings (think of that high-pitched synth fodder from Madonna's "Vogue"). Instead, his work finds its lot sandwiched in-between the more beat-friendly tracks of the Orthlorng Musork posse or Mille Plateaux kids -- though his music is far too complex and interesting to be lumped in with those guys. Gibson's focus on sounds (lots of them) works in tandem with his get-your-ass-on-the-dance-floor grooves. Snippets of guitars, drills, springs, melodies created from unnamed noises, sub-bass tones and an unlimited bank of percussion sounds come together on the first four tracks. Gibson crafts thin-yet-complex textures over a steady pulse; each track makes your ears and brain tingle, ensuring that you can't simply zone out. He ends the set with an exploration in ambience ("Diminished Shift"), white noise mixing with washes of digitally aliased and pitch-shifted drones -- a texture that reveals its complexity after five or six listens.

Gibson's mixing and engineering skills show an experienced veteran in the computer music field, panning and fitting the pieces of his collage together without a single seam showing, dropping out sounds to create listener focus and avoid sensory overload.

No matter what moniker he wears, Gibson continues his path as the master of cerebral electronic music. If the term Intelligent Dance Music ever made sense -- and c'mon, it conjures images of guilty professors dancing around a shade-drawn office -- it does so here.