Various Artists: 6x Various Artists: 6x (Dark Duck - 2001) Keep adding 'em up... the half dozenth in the ongoing x-series features the combined talents of Stephen Philips, Ben Summers, Michael Bentley, Geoff Varosky, Alex Cornhill, Randall Flagg, Felex Tendler as well as the mysterious anonymous contributor... 6x, as always with this sonic hodge-podge contributorship, makes for unpredictable listening. With insistent, incessant (though muffled) fibrillations, a sub-bass rhythm pumps beneath the shimmery ephemera of Putz (18:27) with occasional spirals of the latter denoting the track's languid evolution. Slowly pulsing bass notes keep steady time as Lreet's other soundforms chitter away quietly. Another extended experiment, Phoolze sputters about with subdued muted cycles of static and faint clunks, rather like a continually skipping record near some faulty wiring, maybe. After 12 minutes of this, less-controlled outbursts erupt shapelessly from the deep end and sharp spurts invade. Ten-minute-long Fraën revisits the pounding patterns of the first track, though with greater clarity and louder glitchy accompaniments. Echoey derivations of the aforementioned rhythm swirl and thrum in short-runner Sygnäl (1:28). And the winner of the "huh!?" award is... Dont Tuuch, whose buzzy backdrop is overridden by bizarre phone messages and beeps. The nine tracks of 6x merge the flavorings of eight cooks into one decidedly unusual broth... worth a taste though, particularly if you've a hunger for eclectic shapelessness and overt experimentations. An 8.3 from me. The "x" discs are only a small part of Dark Duck's assorted offerings... This review posted November 4, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).