Various Artists: At Home With The Groovebox

A compact archive of electronic-music history, the Groovebox is a machine equipped with an encyclopedic collection of synthesized sounds taken from classic drum machines (including the beloved 808) and other sources. At Home With The Groovebox assembles 14 Groovebox experiments conducted by artists friendly to the Grand Royal label, and the results are frequently fascinating. Jean Jacques Perrey helps set the tone for the collection with "Groovy Leprechauns," a retro instrumental sure to conjure up flashbacks to 1985; the song sounds like he couldn't resist hitting all the buttons. Most artists come up with similar results. Air sounds at home on the hypnotic "Planet Vega," as do Money Mark and Beck, who turn in the funky "Insects Are All Around Us" and "Boyz," respectively. Some of the most compelling results, however, come from acts not already predisposed to creating music that could have come from a slightly more sophisticated version of the Groovebox. Sonic Youth turns in "Campfire," two minutes of hushed ambient noise filled with what sounds like laser-toting crickets, while Will Oldham (in the guise of Bonnie 'Prince' Billie) produces a song that, amazingly, wouldn't sound terribly out of place on one of his own albums. More intriguing still is Pavement's "Robyn Turns 26," which answers the question, "What if Pavement's music was filled with hip-hop and world-music influences and references to Boulder, Colorado" It's bizarrely compelling enough to suggest that a second round of pass-the-Groovebox might be in order.