artist: X1 Project country of origin: Australia style(s): Berlin-school, ambient trance, ambient techno essential releases: The Asymmetrical Collection (2005, TheOdysseySoundLab.com)

In between the demands of running his commercial production studio in Melbourne, Australian composer Wayne Huf has found time to create some beautifully crafted and cliché-free downtempo machine grooves. This compilation cherry-picks highlights from his five previous releases as X1 Project and it's marvelous stuff.

The Asymmetrical Collection is an intelligent, euphoric collection of multi-coloured instrumentals that straddle techno, classical minimalism, gentle cosmic psychedelia and the bubbling arpeggios of old-school Berlin ambient trance. In a digitally sampled world where live instrument samples are indistinguishable from the originals, sometimes you just want machines to make their own sounds and sound like machines, albeit very advanced ones. From the strange industrial drums, drones and bleeps of "Neutron As A Child" to the warm throb and ricocheting melodies of "Ripples In A Cosmic Trail", this album answers that call without sounding clunky or nostalgic. The lengthy "Lunar Beach" is another highlight, blessed with the same exquisite layering and sense of tension that defines Tangerine Dream's best film scores.

Like the Berlin-school inspired music of Alpha Wave Movement, this album shows an understanding of when and how to draw on the past so as to end up sounding like the future.

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