From Allengskens to Zucht, the work of the ultra-prolific Machinefabriek is most definitely not lacking in quantity. With 50+ releases since 2004, he has made his presence known by distinguishing his work with an austere mechanical feel and a consistent level of quality and ambition. His collaborator on Box Music is Stephen Vitiello, a less renowned but equally talented visual/sound artist. Together they craft minimal ambient noisescapes, dominated by simplistic structure and without the spontaneous feel of Machinefabriek’s past releases. Tracks one and three are pure Machinefabriek, and two and four have a raw “artist gone psychotic” feel, a technique Vitiello seems to have mastered. The two do not team up until the very last track, but it is interesting to hear the elements that dominate their solo songs duke it out when collaborating. Box Music is fairly typical experimental fare. Nothing of shocking brilliance, and no moments of crisp, salient substance, but it is a very creative, endearing album.

Machinefabriek has the problem of isolating himself from achieving the greatness of his peers by releasing far too much material. The Rotterdam-based circuit junkie risks rendering himself permanently unremarkable. On Box Music, Stephen Vitiello’s contributions have much more ferocity and vigor than Machinefabriek’s, whose sound is beginning to run extremely thin. I would suggest these two take the ideas from Box Music and flesh them out into a more substantial offering. I’d count this album as an extended split before I would say collaborative album, but at any rate it’s a suitable example of why the Machinefabriek sound is becoming stagnant. Though it scares me to realize how little one of my favorite artists has changed, it doesn’t keep me from recommending this to the experimentally-savvy that need something to tide them over until 2008’s first “great” release in the genre.

-Jack Britton