Suppose that by turning some knobs or pressing a few buttons, your boom box could double as a mixing board, thus muting certain tracks and you could take out the guitar drums. What you're left with is a low-end rumbling that lies below the surface of the music but nevertheless acts as an aural guide, moving each composition forward towards a mysterious end.

Factor the drum and guitar back in to the equation, and what you have is a remarkable study in instrumental experimentation and sonic chaos. Like its dancehall cousins in drum and bass, Hovercraft uses rhythm to set the table. But from there, the sky's the limit. The band's follow-up to last year's critically acclaimed debut album is another masterpiece in sound manipulation. The seven "songs" that make up Experiment Below consist of alternating current waves, pulsating vibrations, and dynamic instrumental peaks and valleys. Even without a single lyric to make sense of it all, the music is still one of the most cerebral releases in recent memory.