Tension is what I crave most in music these days. The quality I'm talking about comes from two conflicting forces exerting influence on a piece of music; I like to focus on the fabric of the sound as it ripples in response to these opposing vectors. Beauty vs. ugliness, chaos vs. order, and melody vs. noise: these are the grudge matches I buy front row seats for, because I want to be the first to hear how it ends.

I think this interest in tension is why I've become so fascinated with "glitch" music over the last couple of years. Rather than hearing a pretty melody sung by a delicate voice, I want to hear that voice struggling to make its way through a maze of faulty machinery, barely heard above a din of noxious static. To my ears, this multiplies the beauty tenfold, knowing how arduous the journey to audibility can be.

The ultimate example for me is Nobukazu Takemura's "Kepler" from Scope; Aki Tsuyuko's voice is manipulated in such a way that we'll never get to hear exactly what she has to say, though we can tell from her tone that it needed saying. My favorite track off Kid A is the title song for the same reason. Likewise, My Bloody Valentine's "To Here Knows When." These tracks speak to how I think about life.

When Scott Herren makes music as Delarosa and Asora, he seems to be shooting for that kind of tension. Agony Part 1 touches on the more abstract end of the glitch spectrum while incorporating some steady beats and drifting ambient passages, which is not far from where Autechre seemed headed with their last couple of releases.

The problems I have with this record are similar to those I had with EP7; the tension is undercut to a degree because Herren piles on the dissonance and gives the splendor short shrift. You'll find every digital squelch, fuzz and burp you can imagine on Agony Part 1, but only occasionally will you hear a sound that puts a lump in your throat. There's something to be said for this kind of restraint, and the music here never runs the danger of sentimentality (something that can't be said for Nobukazu Takemura), but I'm a little more of a glutton when it comes to melodic payoff.

That said, there are a handful of great tracks here. "Two Hum" makes good use of the kind of Reichian vibraphone patterns I thought I was tired of, then mixes them with a drone diced so fine it takes on two pitches simultaneously. The four-part "Paz Suite" sounds like Autechre remixing Stereolab (which they have, come to think of it, on the "Miss Modular" 12-inch-- it's just what you'd expect). Beach Boys-inspired female vocal harmonies are put through the Pro Tools blender and looped, which adds a poignant feel to the repeating synth pattern.

Other tracks have their moments, but seem somehow too stereotypically "IDM" and, more to the point, a bit too busy for my tastes. Still, there are fleeting moments of brilliance on Agony Part 1-- enough to make me want to pull up a chair find out what happens.

-Mark Richard-San