ERIC COPELAND, one-third of experimental electronic visionaries BLACK DICE, has recently released his sixth full length Limbo off the reliably excellent Underwater Peoples Records, and its just plain great. In this solo outing we hear Copeland’s signature sounds shine through. Vocal loops wind into exquisite corkscrews of twisted pitch that gradually gain momentum, incorporating prickly synths, distorted percussion samples, washes of delay and other sonic detritus into a tornado of funky off-kilter grooves. Long-time fans will notice various styles of Black Dice’s back catalog bubble up, like the crunchy call-and-response of Creature Comforts, the bizarro hip-hop beats of Repo, the ambient interludes like samples of Beaches and Canyons. But unlike those BD albums, the songs on this album are stripped down, the sprawling schizo sounds boiled down and distilled to its bare essentials. Benefitting from this sonic restrain, the tracks sound more focused on delivering an effective rhythm to dance to. For all the ambient textures, phasers and delay, the songs never get lost in their own effects, instead using them to enhance the immediacy necessary to a good dance beat. Although the tempo is constantly shifting, it often roll into a standard 4/4 house beat. Copeland explores conventional forms with a honed, experimental approach that lends the album a feel that is both surprisingly approachable and disturbingly thrilling in the eccelectism and novelty of its sounds. With so many great experimental dance music coming from the UK future garage scene and the NY-LA beat scenes, its refreshing to hear a noise master such as Copeland craft whirling boogies with his singular twist and shake.