It was 5:30am. My friends and I had just returned home from nine hours of partying. There was a girl there who was talking a little too much for my taste. I threw some logs in the fireplace, lit some candles and put BT on the speakers. She quieted down.

ESCM opens on the right side of ambient. With typically rich nightime forest sounds and shiny synth touches, it slides into view, beckoning deeper. What you'll find if you take its purple- draped hand is a tight hard- techno album hiding amon all of those ambient flourishes and space- trip doodling. It's a good mix; a pendulum between hard dance and gentle soundscapes, never permitting too much exposure to either. It mellows the techno edge while erasing the stupefying boredom that can accompany pure ambient. Though it employs its share of cliche- evoking sounds and house- favorite beat combos, ESCM still manages to command respect for its balance.

I came down in the morning, and the disc was still playing, but the talkative girl was gone. She had chosen to dance, I had chosen to chill out and dream the subconscious ice cream sundae.

-James P. Wisdom