Liar's Rosebush

Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Plaid. In the case of Ottawa's Matt Rosen and his Liar's Rosebush alter ego, it seems fruitful to get these names out of the way as early as possible and focus on the essence of his music. Sure, Rosen's polyrhythmic breakdowns and driller's laments draw almost immediate comparisons to Warp's most notable and intelligent dance movers but on his second LP, Thank-You Machines!, Rosen drops a smattering of new ideas and avenues into the dunk tank of clichés that is post-Detroit electronics. Songs like "Blowdarts and Burning Bridges" and "'B as in Boy" swim with a personality rare in modern day IDM. As the majority of songs twist beautiful, toy-ish piano lines under frogs-raining-on-tin-roof break beats, Thank-You Machines! sounds entirely gorgeous and somewhat hopeful. It's a well-conceived, multi-layered set of compositions from a fresh face in Canadian music. Certainly, the machines shouldn't take all of the credit.