So much electronic music is conceived as little more than a means to some separate end. It's a shame, yes, but it's also a reality: house is for dancing, trance is for getting fucked up, electro is for nostalgia, etc. This current state of affairs makes Axiotronic's latest release all the more refreshing: Of Latitude and Longitude presented as electronica, wholly undanceable, produced for its own sake. Unfortunately, this purity of intent will, in all likelihood, preclude the album from ever attaining a wide audience - if it isn't spun in the club, most in the community won't take notice. Michael Spinka's Axiotronic project might prove to be Philadelphia's best kept secret.

The easiest description to throw at Of Latitude and Longitude would be "synthpop," but such a label glosses over the disc's nuances, robs it of the subtlety and sophistication which themselves seem antithetical to the term. The music is most certainly synthesized, and its pop status is somewhat open for debate, this is true. But, please, just listen to organic build of "Flight on White". Listen to the three minute tour-de-force that is "Does Not Computer", listen to the Dead Cities-esque breakdown on "Hyper Invisible", and try to tell me that Axiotronic is a descendant of The Human League.

Of Latitude and Longitude embodies summer - no, it is summer, in tangible form. And I will be the first to admit that much of its appeal might in fact owe itself more to a sunny July drive down Interstate 275 than to any production on the part of Michael Spinka. But I can't think of a more appropriate companion to this season - its weather, its promise, its freedom - than the saccharine chords and flourishing stabs on "Robot Placism". Surely he deserves at least some credit for that?

Quite interesting to me is how easy this could have been a dance record, given how emphatically it is not. There exists the correct balance of repetition and variation, chirps and tweets churning under arpeggiating melodies. Furthermore, for such a decidedly light record, the bass is at times surprisingly heavy, as on the aforementioned closer "Hyper Invisible". Songs like "Midnight Mathematics" are a scant four kick drums and a key change away from being the next Ibiza banger, and so the fact that they are not becomes all the more impressive. It implies discipline and engenders respect.

For a little under an hour, Axiotronic captivates with a breezy collection of electro-bliss, and does so with a careless ease that belies his effort. I cannot recommend this music more highly, this music that positively revels in all its bleeping, blooping, stuttering glory.

-Andy Kissner