FROM THE WIRE #204 (February 2001)<BR>
Size Matters (A new column for 3", 7", 10" and other misshapes)<BR><BR>

As Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton told us, we are islands in the 
stream. This especially rings true for bedroom electronic musicians 
who release their driftworks on disconnected 'nanolabels.' The 
Archipelago is a loosely structured alignment of stylistically and 
geographically scattered musicians floating around the Bay Area's 
slipstream and beyond. Their series of 3" CDs is called, 
unsurprisingly, Islands, each with a different artist. On Lunatic 
(Archipelago #3 (1) 3"CD) Rhomb (a duo of Nathan Kreisberg and 
Michael Bentley) explore lunar landscapes via particulated chimes and 
antigravity synth dust that are vaguely reminiscent of Anthony 
Manning. Their deep space orientation comes into clear focus when you 
learn their career was kickstarted by Malcolm Cecil of Tonto's 
Expanding Head Band. Fans of eM's Greater than Zero Less than One (you know who you are) might 
be perturbed by the presence of a human voice on Click Pop 
(Archipelago #3 (6) 3"CD). Where Greater than Zero Less than One explored the literal and 
theoretical hyperspace inside a Powerbook, Click Pop is more of an 
effort to impose the computer's binary crackle logic on the real 
world. Thermal's Span (Archipelago #3 (4) 3"CD) begins with the sound 
of Hannibal conquering Europe with an army of insects instead of 
elephants before soothing in 18 minutes of Derrick May programming 
the blues. Discs by Csero, Seofon and Dean Santomieri complete the 
set.