Flanger - 7/10

Flanger is comprised of two quietly vital perennials of German electronica: Uwe Schmidt, aka Atom Heart and Senor Coconut, and Burnt Friedman, the man behind Nonplace Records.

The duo released a series of witty abstractions on Ninja Tune circa the turn of the millenium, but their fifth LP (and their first in a decade) is an exercise in blurry downtempo. It's at its best when jazz bleeds through, as on the piano-and-sax groove of 'Mulch', which would fit on an old David Lynch film, or the shuffling whisper of 'Sweet Silence'.

There's also ambient funk to enjoy on 'They Don't Know What They Don't Know', but this is mostly gloopy ambience, ghostly grooves heard through a detuned radio