Plone -- For Beginner Piano -- Warp Records 1999

This could be the sound of the future. But it's not. It's closer to the sound of what our parents thought the future might be. There's a definite pop sensibility to Plone's eccentric electronica but it sounds closer to Kraftwerk and Martin Denny dropping acid in the studio than anything in the music of todays top 40. The electronics are almost easy listening yet don't descend into kitsch (well most of the time), they remain jaunty and expressive, a blast from a future's past where we all watch the British Sci-fi program Dr. Who and have moogs in our bedrooms. Acclaimed first single "Plock" is included on the album but is lost in the meltdown of vintage synths and drum machines that overtake the album's ten tracks. This child-like album may not appeal to absolutely everyone, but it's enchanting vocoders and nursery rhyme like beats will certainly attract those who recognize a tribute to both the past, and to the future.