BT

It’s now longtime producers, rather than artists, who hold the tools necessary to push the sonic envelope. In BT’s latest offering, such experience has proved handy. At-times-cacophonous tech noise is offset by surprisingly sustainable undercurrents of melody that tend toward melancholic—but in no way sleepy—ruminations on a universe where robots are hardly second-class citizens. Sensitivity to jazz and orchestral techniques make This Binary Universe stand out from its electronic cousins, though claims that it marks a new era in modern music are overstated.