STARFISH POOL REMIXED Silver/BE-US/CD It's artists like Belgium's Koen Lybaert that make us rethink the words techno and trance. Forget for a moment the style of music now known as trance and think of the meaning of the word itself. The key is the word "hypnotic"; just as the repetition of lean, minimal techno is almost trance-like in the way it seems to revolve and circle itself-like a dog chasing its tail-so goes the music of Lybaert's Starfish Pool. This is not aggressive Jeff Mills style loopwork or clean and minimal like Robert Hood, though, mainly because Lybaert does away with the standard Roland drum kit and replaces it with clonks and clacks and percussion of his own design. Now take this gritty yet mesmerizing brand of techno and give it to some artists renowned for their boundary pushing to remix and you've got this package. Unit Moebius contribute two reworks that easily crack the ten minute mark, yet unfold with enough suspense to hold you spellbound. Riou does the same in a shorter period of time, as do Holon, Dogon Soundsystem and the more well known Mark Broom and Dave Hill. Yes, Dorothy, this is techno, but not as we know it. Think Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia without the tribal elements if that might help, but above all, check out Starfish Pool. --Andrew Duke Back to album reviews index