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The sister/brother label to Spectral (my favourite label discovery of last year, with gems such as "bout ready to jak" and "afrika") releases a second album of goodies collected on two discs. Whereas Spectral is devoted to the art of getting people moving and/or thinking "what the fuck was that," Ghostly is much more warm and gentle.

The first disc is described as avant-pop, and to be honest I'm not sure what they mean.


It could encompass all sorts of things. For instance it could (and maybe should) mean that tracks will be interesting and make you sit up and think "wow." Instead, there's a definite feeling of things going by with a pleasant sort of fuzz around them... Much like taking codeine. However, there's a reason why people are raving over Dabrye, Matthew Dear, Daniel Wang and Mobius Band. Somehow they manage to make the stuff they do seem substantial. And these are the standout tracks on disc 1. The remaining tracks, though pleasant enough, don't really go anywhere and conjure up images of boys obsessed with Boards of Canada sitting in their bedrooms trying to make pop music.

As for the second disc, well, it has some interesting glitch stuff, which is great. But still, it didn't really grab hold of me, shake me and make me think "this is amazing." This was the perfect CD for me to listen to while staring down a microscope; it was pleasant enough on a subconscious level. That's not exactly a major endorsement though, is it?

I got the distinct feeling that I'd heard bits before on older records by Autechre, Aphex Twin, Two Lone Swordsmen etc. Either I'm getting to be one of those interminable old-timers or the people I've just name-checked were indeed ahead of their time and their ideas are being repeated all over again.