Now that you're roped in and eager to read on, let's cut to the chase: if you're not independently wealthy, and don't like ASCII drawings of birds, you have no reason to buy this album, capiche?

Since RKK 13 is ostensibly a remix project (of tracks from Hrvatski's 1997 Attention:Cats LP), I expected some overlap between the songs. But with such an extensive roster of artists, I had also hoped for some variety; and on that tip, this disc comes up woefully short. I can't resist measuring this compilation against other projects of the same ilk-- Pluramon's Bit Sand Raiders, Kid606's We Are All Winners, Nav Katze's Never Mind the Distortion series, and Kinesthesia's Empathy Box EP. These are examples of remix ventures that worked; though the songs sampled the same sources, their thematically inventive approaches yielded wildly divergent results. The classic Empathy Box 12" demonstrates more personality and versatility in its four easy pieces (by Cylob, µ-ziq, Autechre and Aphex Twin) than RKK 13 can manage in an hour and a quarter.

I'm reminded when listening to compilations like these that the creative canvas of IDM, if that's what we have to call it, has shrunk, and that the palette of IDM noises has become limited and familiar to the point of cliche. The label, once loosely used, has come to connote certain signature sounds and production techniques, which aspiring artists try to incorporate, replicate and imitate-- often at the expense of the listener. After so many years of the same schtick, I've tired of hearing nothing but clicks, hisses and sped-up "Amen" breaks.

With a few gleaming exceptions, everyone is trying too hard to sound like everyone else, and in doing so, they've forgotten the origins of this genre's horribly pretentious name-- not just intelligence, nor inaccessibility, but innovation. What vaulted albums like Pole's 1, Aphex's Selected Ambient Works II and Mouse on Mars' Autoditacker into the canon of electronic excellence was not their technical virtuosity, but their ambition and progressivism.

From a technical vantage point, RKK 13 passes muster. The production is crisp, and these kids make it clear that they know their craft. But seldom do the songs amount to anything more than craft (like, perhaps, art). Most of the numbers on this album are academically impressive, but visionless, identical and emotionally dry. The minimal electro-static oscillations of Fennesz's "IVEND OO" sound virtually indistinguishable from the Antenna Farm and Pita contributions. The violent din of V/VM's "2m24" mimics some of the other noise songs (specifically, Wheel's "Steaktippin' Granulation" and Airlock's "5151403") almost bit-for-bit. A handful of songs stand out from the pack, but usually only by virtue of their novelty.

Moore's "Cock Ramones ESP Radio Mix" bleeds "I Wanna Be Sedated" through a few filters, throws in a weird glitch or two, and repackages it as a new song. Cex's "Well, I'm Sure It Made Sense to Caligula" resonates with his familiar melodic influence, but in two minutes does not reach the same depths as his other material.

Only two songs on this record make me reach for the repeat button. O'Rourke's tropically tinted "Chvistmas Mix" marks an upbeat departure from the drab tone of the other pieces; even buried beneath several layers of distortion and a swarm of spaced out effects, the track retains a vibrant, intangible levity. Reminds me of the Boredoms. Kid606 kicks off his ditty with some of the same samples O'Rourke uses, then introduces a dizzying carnival of time-spaced vocals, staccato snares and third-generation guitar noise. This is vintage 606, circa Down with the Scene or GQ on the EQ. And at two minutes, it's too short to piss you off like his other noisy noodlings.

I didn't look forward to panning this album, but truth be told, it's damn boring. Hrvatski's talent for hybridizing styles and pushing the envelope in his own music has, regrettably, not worn off on the musicians he enlisted for RKK 13. Reckank is a young label with a great deal of promise, and they deserve ups for simply pulling off a project of this magnitude. But if you want to support them, consider picking up Hrvatski's brilliant Oiseaux 96-98 instead.

-Malcolm Seymour III