Right from the opening, reverb- drenched introduction, a standard Macintosh text- voice singing "Fu-ture Pi-lot A-K-A- Pre-sent-ing a Ga-la-xy of Sound," it's apparent you won't be listening to any routine jungle or shoegazing stuff. And you won't, I assure you. Instead, you'll get a little bit of everything-- some jump up n' boogie, some etherial, ambient guitar work, some downright dancy dance music, some Middle Eastern sitar- driven rock songs, and all sorts of other interesting shit. No, people, you won't be bored with A Galaxy of Sound-- not even for a moment.

You might recognize Sushil K. Dade, founder of the Future Pilot, from his days with the Soup Dragons, the Telstar Ponies, and even Glasgow's BMX Bandits. Of course, you shouln't let any of that put you off-- his new sound, while not totally unlike many things you've heard, is awesome to the core. Citing Ravi Shankar and Lee "Scratch" Perry as his primary influences, Dade's put together a vaguely ethnic dance machine, collaborating with no less than 16 different artists over the course of 20 tracks.

Some of the standouts include Dade's work with Two Lone Swordsmen on the disc's bell- and string- ridden opener, "The Gates to Film City," his collaboration with the Fall's Brix Smith on the spacy dub- trance number "Indians at N.A.S.A.," and the kickin' horn- laden blaxploitation theme "World Wide Web" with a group of New Delhi schoolkids known as the Ranjit Nagar All Stars. There's also an interplanetary workout with Suicide's Alan Vega and the Revolutionary Corps of Teenage Jesus on "Meditation Rat," a bizarre Middle Eastern/ hip-hop hybridization featuring minimalist electronic wizard and Sulfur Records honcho Scanner, and the catchiest rings- of- Jupiter pop you might have ever heard, the seven- minute- long "Hurricane Fighter Plane" with the Pastels.

I don't know you feel about strange electronic- based projects like this, but if you've had similar experiences to mine, you probably think they're pretty mediocre. But think just once again, lover, while listening to Future Pilot AKA's A Galaxy of Sound. It'll have you on the floor, getting down under the bed, and checking out that forgotten terrestrial plane you call "uncharted wisdom." Now get widdit!

-Ryan Schreiber