Shawn Hatfield's second full-length for Force Inc under his Twerk alias is virtually indistinguishable from his first, Humantics. I'm not sure if Hatfield is trying to conform to the adage that you have your whole life to come up with your debut album, but only eighteen months to stump up your second. Regardless, the result is that Now I'm Rendered Useless comes off like Humantics II.

Sequels have a long tradition. Having scored a huge hit with The Iliad, Homer composed The Odyssey. The cerebral but worthily dull Star Trek: The Motion Picture was sequeled by the gripping revenge drama, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. But in these notable instances of artists producing sequels, they have not rehashed the same material. Radiohead conveniently side-stepped this charge by stating that they came up with Amnesiac (the sequel) in the same sessions as Kid A.

Without evidence that Hatfield recorded Now I'm Rendered Useless at the same time as Humantics, we're left to conclude that either he considers clicky, crunchy, headspace techno to be his signature sound, or he's run out of ideas already.

Don't get me wrong, the tracks on Now I'm Rendered Useless are every bit as worthy of your attention as the Humantics material. I do notice that the newer tracks are even less shy of hi-hats and hummable basslines than their predecessors. Both albums keep ambient padding low in the mix, a foreboding stability amidst the strewn detritus of digital chirps.

On the new release, "Porca Miseria" demonstrates this most effectively. You could consider "Geeky Minimal Sausage Party" a crunchy and rollicking appreciation of the Bionaut's more rigid techno. Breaking little new ground, "Grunt Sculpin" goes on the electro-acoustic attack, but soon concedes that everyone digs tunes with beats much more. To this end, "Chili Charm" gets us comfortably back into a glitchy groove. But never with the same attention to new styles that Squarepusher imbues Go Plastic with.

Squarepusher noticed that two-step's complex syncopation had thrown down a challenge to the tyranny of the four-four of techno. Go Plastic punches two-step right in the guts, and Squarepusher, without a shred of respect, kicks the form around until he's exposed all its strengths and all its tediousness. Readymade's Bold album does a similar job, except it tickles two-step into submission, rather than kicks the crap out of it.

Nowhere on Hatfield's album is there an appreciation, or even an acknowledgement, of fresh styles. Recent Plug Research releases have amply demonstrated that US producers are shaping their laptop techno in multiple ways. On Force Inc, Robert Babicz (formerly known as Rob Acid; now working as Atlon Inc.) has taken the predictable white-noise dub formulae of the Chain Reaction stable, and infused them with the funk of classic house. Former Chain Reactionaries, Monolake, have successfully engineered the artful electro of Gravity. It's not as though the inspiration and the ideas aren't out there for Hatfield to pick up on.

I hope Hatfield isn't serious about his choice of title. When I first heard Humantics, I was struck by a dynamic new talent-- one who I thought would flourish just as Jake Mandell has done with Love Songs for Machines. I would hate it if Hatfield gave up now. In order to keep the creep of disappointment at arm's length, I'll state that it took Mandell until his third release to produce his masterpiece and his reconciliation with technology. That means Hatfield's got one life left. His eager audience is suspended in a holding pattern.

-Paul Cooper