Double Figure

*Double Figure* is as unpredictable as the mythical creatures on its cover. Its 20 tracks veer between tempos and moods: from laidback interstellar lounge (\"Light Rain\") to mercurial drum \'n\' bass (\"Zala\") to dark fairy-tale soundscapes (\"Sincetta\"), with ambient space transmissions in between. Their fourth album still sounds as mysterious as when it was released, and as fun, too; changing up time signatures and stretching sounds to their limits, the IDM pioneers sound positively enchanted by their machines.

One of music's best qualities is its talent for escaping description. Critics, because we lack the vocabulary to verbally ...

Inspired to get back to basics after the release of the Trainer retrospective, Plaid returned in 2001 with an LP of tough machine music, closer to the melancholy beatbox style of their mid-'90s singles than the rangy, dynamic sound of 1999's Rest Proof Clockwork.

<p>Air sound like Pink Floyd, Zoot Woman sound like Duran Duran - nothing is what it seems in this week's pop</p>