The Wisdom Of Harry: House Of Binary

For some, the foreign sounds of electronic music still pose a threat. But in the right hands, synthesizers and drum machines can breathe with their own life, and the wheezier the relics the better. The Wisdom Of Harry is more organic, and therefore more natural, than most electronic music, in part due to the background of Pete Astor, the band's sole member. A bit late to the digital game, Astor had more than enough experience making music by more conventional means, as a player in classic-era Creation bands The Loft and The Weather Prophets. The colorful and rough binary code that decorates the cover of House Of Binary gives listeners a clue that the human factor is very much in play, and a few moments in "Unit One" validate that suspicion. Guitars slink in and out of the soundscapes, while canned percussion percolates menacingly. Astor's own voice drifts like a haunted whisper, just barely peeking above the tinny din of the strange and hypnotic "Coney Island" and "Caesar Boots," and the cabaret-dub of "Boxed" and "Woke Up Buzzing." Elsewhere, Astor doles out creepy but sneakily catchy little instrumentals like "March Of The Otaku," "Palefinger," and "Disco," mood music that enhances the more fully formed songs. Like The Folk Implosion subverted by unreliable software (think early Atari, not new Apple), House Of Binary puts the pulse into programming by keeping it personal. There's a man pressing all these buttons, not just a machine, and the result is far cooler than chilly.