Parastrophics

One of the more whimsical and fearlessly experimental electronic acts of the past two decades, German duo Mouse on Mars has taken an increasingly offbeat path since its relatively straight-ahead electronica of the 1990s. Capable of zigzagging off and bouncing between a bewildering number of musical reference points, from post-rock to electronica to pure digital abstraction, MoM's Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner have apparently never met a sound or a genre signifier they could not - or did not want to - mangle beyond recognition. Showing few signs of sonic restraint, the group's 10th studio album continues the abrasive, cut-and-paste approach of 2006's Varcharz while revisiting the bouncy, melody-infused playfulness of the band's earliest works. The head-spinning incongruity is best exemplified on the oil-slicked boom-bap of "Syncropticians" and the schizoid electro-funk of "Polaroyced," where every scribble of analog synth or slap of syncopated rhythm is warped, twisted and cut-up to within an inch of its life.