Isotope 217

Chicago's Isotope 217 appears to have gone off the deep end on this disappointing release, full of twitchy, glitchy electronic sounds, but with none of the melodic sense that anchored previous releases. Perhaps due to efforts to escape Tortoise comparisons (they could do a lot worse, and do here), they've completely abandoned the groove-based jazzy sensibilities that used to propel them, in favour of this dystopian electronic mess.