Just when you think that electroacoustic improvisational soundwreaking/wrecking had run its abject course, tired, trite and all but begging for global mainstream assimilation, along comes G�nter M�ller and another prime For 4 Ears issue to upset all critical apple-carts. MKM (or, if you take the lowercase affectation literally, mkm) finds M�ller tethered to longtime agent provocateurs Jason Kahn and Norbert Moslang, going exploratory all over our quiescent backsides across a six piece collection hammered out during their 2007 tour of Mexico and South America (hence, MSA). These three have become so simpatico they practically read each others minds before nary a waveform is swapped � that they haven't become the least bit formulaic or predictable speaks volumes about their uncanny and intuitive grasp of sound and soft/hardware, and what such tools can do when placed in the right hands, namely theirs.

These gents' individual pedigrees and history aside, this is one helluva fine piece of contemporary sound design, straddling numerous genres and never behaving the way you think it might; turns become detours which become labyrinths continuously unveiling surprises. And who's to say EAI has to tow the onkyo party line, afraid to bring on the noize? "Radar Festival Mexico City 3.23.07" feels like all of the metropolis's powerstations on full overload, becoming one sentient gargantuan beast prowling the streets, electronics assuming the proportions of the Id Monster from Forbidden Planet; the relentless thuds and hums, played at substantial volume, become quite the cathartic experience. "Cinematica Distrital, Bogot� 3.25.07" takes those bigfoot tones down a notch, replacing them with a chorus of spitting digital systems volleyed about Moslang's joyously cracked 'tronic tableaux. "Plano B, Rio de Janeiro 4.6.07" finds the trio intercepting, or being intercepted by, radio waves as if beamed from Andromeda, the attendant hums, modulations, and static grasped, sculpted, and mutated into circuits bent beyond recognition. The closing "Parada Obrigatoria, Rio de Janeiro 4.5.07" erects sonic beacons directing extraterrestrial traffic, a burgeoning squall line of whips-napping buzz saws and warbling vibrations that exhibit more than an undertow of menace. This is music taut as a high wire and balanced effortlessly so; whole new genre appellations might very well have to be invented just to keep up. Masterful stuff.