Various Artists, 0004 (em:t)

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The second installment in the resuscitated em:t series of compilations is now complete. In line with the original label´s mandate, listeners are treated to a few old, reliable friends (High Skies [formerly Gas], Beatsystem and International People´s Gang), one returnee from 0003 (Andy Hughes), and a half dozen fresh-faced kids.

Opening tracks by Pueblo Bonito and Red Leb and the closers by Farfield and Gel Sol prove startlingly reminiscent of the sound and spirit of the previous incarnation, as if em:t artists are not made but rather born, sharing the same musical DNA. A predilection for sinewy electronic lines and synth pads that would have been appropriate to any mid-nineties chill room, propelled by a discreet, post-House rhythmic base, predominates.

And it is more than often downright pretty, perhaps never more so than on High Skies´ incongruously named "Burning Buildings" with its tickling keyboard flourishes, or IPG´s nearly anthemic "AC Harmonics".

The only name this reviewer recognized among the debutants was that of Fognode, who created an excellent solo album a few years back, Beat Hollow. Here, Fognode offers a ten-minute opus entitled "Thin Faces", consisting of a number of movements and shifts in temperment, at times nicely at odds with the otherwise calming textures of the rest of the album´s seventy-two minutes.

Despite its roots in rave culture (originally, em:t was an offshoot of House label Time), the overall impression is not one of cloying nostalgia but rather of a vital genre continuing to thrive and unfold before our ears. It is a very good thing indeed that em:t is back.