The album is accompanied by a DVD, which consists of the same tracks set to video. The graphical prowess displayed in the animated shorts is stunning, but with few exceptions they tend to merely underscore and hardly beg repeated viewing. Thus, the record is best experienced utilizing the DVD’s gorgeously dynamic 5.1 DTS Surround, albeit with eyes closed, analog ears at the ready.
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.