Techno music, as with any other kind of abstract art, is a "high rollers only" kind of gamble. If it succeeds in capturing our imaginations, the pay off is massive. It becomes a mind- expanding experience, breaking down the mental blocks and preconceptions that years of immersion in pop culture have forced upon us. It makes sense on an intuitive level that goes deeper than mere sense. It allows us to see the world in new ways, and, in the case of techno music specifically, it shows us the real artistic potential for music that doesn't worry about Top 40 radio.

However, like abstract art, if techno music fails to intrigue us, it always fails badly. Instead of being simply boring, it risks being completely in-fucking-comprehensible and really annoying to boot. It becomes music that any toothless hillbilly claims they could make if they had a wah-wah pedal and a hand-held tape recorder. Art or crap, there's rarely a happy medium when you're dealing with something as off-the-wall as techno.

Between the two, I'll go for the unspoken urge angle any day, meaning that I like the kind of smart, meaningful techno music the chaps in Sientific American produce. Sure, the music is complex and spooky, intelligent and affecting, lovely and aloof-- and those are all good reasons to enjoy it. But another good reason to listen to this as opposed to your run-of-the- mill 120bpm standard is that there's nothing sadder than seeing a grown man in a pair of plastic Vulcan ears trying to do the cabbage patch. Saints of Infinity/Simulated D.I.Y is Sientific American's new 2xCD set, chronicling their soundscapes, sonic collages and tape loops. And what wonderful tapes loops they are. Classy music for your brain, and not one damn dancing Vulcan in sight.

The track listings here is useless, as the tracks flow straight into one another, lacking any breaks. The changes between the individual songs happen so subtly you almost forget it's a different song. This technique serves Saints of Infinity beautifully, making it an album more about establishing a mood and allowing the listener to slip into a certain frame of mind than rocking out to any particular song (to emphasize this, the tracks have no proper names, and are instead identified by numbers). The end effect of the very soft techno music, the muted drum beats, the constant space imagery and the sci-fi dialogue samples is a serene, contemplative, almost sad album.

Simulated D.I.Y. immediately comes on a harder tip, introducing the more upbeat collection of songs with the sample of a woman saying, "Science is my bag, baby," over a jazzy-smooth beat. After that, nine more tracks of Motown-inspired techno follow, brightly (and beautifully) contrasting the cerebral gloom of Saint of Infinity. Everything about this disc screams funk, love, and smiles-- from the aggressive, but still chocolate-smooth drum beats, to the group's usage of jazz horns, pianos and rhythms. It's more what you'd expect from a "typical" techno album, but Sientific American still keep their cosmic creativity thumping loudly on this disc, as they marry rather "untechno" instruments like sitars to beats that sound like spaceships imploding.

Simulated D.I.Y.'s tracks are more clearly separated into songs, so it lacks the artistic cohesion of the first disc. But this makes it much easier listening-- music that's bite-sized rather than a buffet spread. Also more noticeable on this disc are time-honored "techno techniques" like messing with sound levels, quick cuts, and jagged looping, none of which appeared on the first disc in any major way. Sientific American show their musical shrewdness by saving these tricks for the more active and excited Simulated disc, as all the frantic cuts and jumps would have ruined the quiet, shy beauty of Saints of Infinity.

Stylistically, Saints of Infinity and Simulated D.I.Y. rest at complete opposites of the techno spectrum. One is a dark, celestial album-- a musical sci-fi story with a beginning, middle and end, all expressed in notes and sounds effects. Simulated D.I.Y. is a brainy but ass-moving collection of pure techno groove, and much more danceable and lighthearted. Quality-wise, these two albums couldn't be more similar. Both are intelligently made, artistically sound, fully entertaining and hi-quality techno music. Two discs of techno buzzes and blips, just the way it should be.

-Steven Byrd