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Thinkbox describe themselves as "a self-curating media collective, created to explore technological works and contemporary media". I find this to be a fascinating and noble ideal, one that they manifest to great effect in their release "Settings". Using tracks created independently by individual members of the collective, "Settings" is a powerful display of the Thinkbox aesthetic.

Chris McNamara's "Martahaus" is a sparse drone based piece that pulses and flows with it's own internal rhythm before leading into radio transmissions from distant broadcasts. It's a very cool and very haunting piece in an industrialised way.

Bill Van Loo checks in with "A Glimpse", a lovely chill piece based around simple bell and piano textures and forms. He takes a very minimalist approach to environment, which comes out surprisingly effective nonetheless.

"No Good Way to Say it But I'll Try" by Mark Laliberte is a fascinating sound collage, an interesting blend of tones and shapes that evokes an image slowly coming into focus. I very much like the way this piece progresses and develops.

"Convergent" by Christopher Bissonnette reminds me of grainy Pixelvision movie footage, perhaps something out of a Wim Wenders film. Melodies swim up to the surface and then duck back down again beneath the waves of sound. It's haunting and beautiful and altogether cool.

A second track by Mark Laliberte, "Diagram of a Cell", is a lovely showing of glitchy abstract forms and shapes laid overtop a slight pulse. Another excellent piece by Laliberte.

Steve Roy checks in with "Miscommunication", a cleverly applied collection of telephone based samples. It's a nice example of soundsource work sure to attract the attention of the legion of Aube fans out there.

"Your Reply (One Year Later)" by Rob Theakston is a very beautiful and fragile piece, a delicate weaving of sounds broken by a brittle latticework of clicks and scratches. Beautiful, but regrettably too short for my liking. I would have really enjoyed seeing this piece stretch out and develop.

Steve Roy also contributes "Doppler" an interesting take on spatial dynamics. It's a clever and well-presented track that I found thoroughly engaging.

"Untitled Bass Improv" by Bill Van Loo is a quivering gelatinous mass of a song, shaky notes burbling and gurgling and shifting in and out of synch with each other. This is a good thing by the way and I find the track thoroughly enjoyable.

I feel that saying "Oblique" by Christopher Bissonnette is a study in oblique motion is both an understatement and redundant. Suffice to say that it's a very well presented piece that explores movement and space within a confined environment. Very satisfying.

"Williamsburg, Tuesday" by Chris McNamara closes the disc, a wall of sound where a thousand different ideas (or maybe only a few...) come together at the same time. Listen closely and you can distinguish specific noises, or listen less attentively and let them all surround you at once.

I can't help but feel a sense of exploration and discovery listening to "Settings", a feeling that previously undiscovered environments and atmospheres exist independent of our awareness, but through the efforts of Thinkbox they are ours to be found in our own ways, in our own time. Truly inspiring and truly inspired, "Settings" is a very strong work by a very talented group of artists.

rik - ping things