When humans throw themselves into the ring with a machine and struggle with it to create a remotely relatable sound, they can either come out conquering Ali or succumbing to the blows of Nintendo's "Super Punch-Out" star Gabby Jay. At its best, new techno can be brilliant, making machines practically seem human-- whether it's Aphex Twin's strange sense of humor or the Propellerheads' posturing. At its worst, it stands as self- mockery-- an aural throwback to the days of analog home video game systems. And Spacetime Continuum takes Pole Position in the latter.

With both feet grounded firmly in Atari Audioland, Spacetime Continuum chooses to use the simple instruments-- the 808, the drum machine, the Casio. Ever tried getting something even remotely modern- sounding out of your old Casio's selection of drum patches? Sorry-- it was primitive even in 1984, and retro is not cool among fans of electronic music. Sure, it's charming that everything this guy knows he learned from Jan Hammer, but as a musical society, we're past "The Theme From 'Miami Vice.'"

Granted, there redeeming qualities sporadically placed throughout Realtime (the French rap in "Neoteric" is nice), but Spacetime doesn't provide enough humanity to hold the listener's interest, and as quick as this guy's 1-2 digital uppercut is, it's all one can do to remain vertical while trying to dance to this stuff.

-David Day