Plaid

Like so many rock and pop figures, Plaid's Andy Turner and Ed Handley rose to the top of the electronic music pantheon by paying their dues as members of a (now-defunct) groundbreaking group. Back in 1993, Turner and Handley were two-thirds of the Black Dog, which helped lay the groundwork for the so-called Intelligent Dance Music (IDM) genre, with its electro-tinged melodies and quirky Middle Eastern rhythms. The Black Dog's Bytes and 1995 follow-up Spanners transmogrified the silliness of underground rave and early techno fodder like Altern-8 and Orbital into quixotic musical themes informed with a contemplative aspect. This was dance music for your mind.

Plaid: Proof that old (black) dogs can learn new tricks.

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More About

• Ed Handley
• Andy Turner
• Ken Downie
• Electronic Music
• Hip-Hop and Rap

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Upon the Black Dog's demise, Handley and Turner split with erstwhile pal Ken Downie to work on their longtime fixation, Plaid. P-Brane further explores the territory the duo explored on its previous album Double Figure, on which the ambient overtones of Brian Eno and cult soundtrack composer Vangelis serve as a raw canvas for hip-hop beats, digital noise explosions and the most gossamer of melodies. The lead track, "Coat," begins just this way, with mellow piano tones echoing softly before a mechanical hip-hop beat cracks in to get things going. But instead of featuring the rhymes of an MC over this backbone, Plaid inserts a dark, aching synthesizer melody that wafts over the frantic percussion bubbling just below the surface. This juxtaposition of sonic textures permeates P-Brane. "Diddymousedid" is childlike chime music countered by the bouncy syncopated rhythms reminiscent of the duo's Black Dog days, while "Stills" marries dreamy harp-like arpeggios to fancy jazz drum breaks and shifting time signatures.

It's these allusions to the beloved Black Dog project that keep seasoned electronic music aficionados coming back — and Plaid's audience continues to grow with each release, as Turner and Handley push those older ideas into fantastic new directions. A great release in its own right, P-Brane embraces the axiom that, to remain musically and culturally relevant, you have to push forward as much as you look back