Oval is the brand name for Markus Popp"s singular approach to sound manipulation--he"s a software developer as much as a composer. Skipping CDs, field recordings of bells, and his own back catalog are grist for his digital mill, but regardless of a sound"s source, Popp"s ever-evolving "Ovalprocess" application renders his work immediately identifiable. But not identical; this is both the rawest and most complexly textured Oval recording to date. The album"s patterns of rasping low-end blurts, midrange buzzes, and high-pitched glassy splinters will sand the finish off your speakers. The beats, when present, are staggered sequences of CD skips. But adjust your sense of scale and you"ll hear Popp"s real rhythms; they"re in the cinematic variation of his repeating sequences, brief-as-blinking events, and discrete sound scenes. --Bill Meyer