One of the problems with creating unequivocally futuristic music is that the pundits don't want it to have sprung from any music previously heard on this planet, from the tired and used past. It is as if it is not properly visionary unless it has mysteriously emerged out of space in a teleporter machine with no strings, no known genus or species. I Am Spoonbender skirt that concept of forward-looking music by peering toward a future that is firmly entrenched in the past but has yet to take hold, a future that is paranormal and psychological and cinematic as much as it is cyber-this or techno-that, one filled with lethargic room-size computers, stilted typefaces, and the idealism of the unknown rather than megabyte-paced paranoia and deep-seated cynicism. Heavily influenced by filmmaking and the idea of "albums" (as opposed to collections of songs), I Am Spoonbender tosses all manner of monkey wrench into what actually are, structurally speaking, mutated pop songs, melding avant-noise, sound collage, musique concrète, and video game belches; what comes out is wildly imaginative techno-pop that actually reaches a level of noir-like viscidity. Much of the album is atmospheric, but the ambience is tightly packed and tensive, full of drones and whirs, industrial-strength grinding and sounds not of this world, and there is not a moment on the album where I Am Spoonbender falters. From the computer call and response of Replaced by Toys to Spirit Photography -- the sound of an alien religious ritual performed somewhere out in a woods -- the whole of Sender/Receiver buzzes with a thick air of exciting anticipation and unease, and it is all moved forward by the impossible lockstep drumming of Dustin Donaldson, whose work nearly matches the technoid tribal jamming that drum god Jaki Leibezeit perfected in seminal I Am Spoonbender influence Can (Replaced by Toys, Stopwatch Static, The Teeth's Loan Trust Co., and Mr. Knife, Mrs. Fork are all direct descendents of Tago Mago). And although there are influences here (Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, et. al), I Am Spoonbender has created music that has not tied itself down. No other band or artist makes music like Sender/Receiver: alien, cold, schizoid jazz or space-funk played by robots. The only problem: where does music go from here? ~ Stanton Swihart, Rovi

1		Reality Dealer
2		Hair Is Real
3		Ears Are Merely Human
4		Replaced by Toys
5		Stopwatch Static
6		Slow Metal Fires
7		What Does the Water Think?
8		The Teeth's Loan and Trust Co.
9		Spirit Photography
10		Waking Dream Seance
11		She Keeps Her Secret
12		Mr. Knife, Miss Fork