Bee Mask is the performing name of Chris Madak, once a rising star in the Cleveland noisenik scene who moved to Philly a couple of years back. He plays drones using homemade photosensitive circuits controlled by small moving lights. On paper it sounds like some sort of squealfest; in reality Madak produces wide-open drones without a hint of rushing. There is an excellent amount of tone in these tracks, cello-type stretches and metal on metal banging hushed in the background (you can take the boy out of Cleveland…).

Tension arises and sounds like a swarm of tricky insects coming through the wires and injecting you with something narcotic. This is headspace music of the highest degree. Side two starts off with some bells, and synths come shooting in arcs like a rainbow, virtually going unchanged except for the ever-so-slight shift in pressure until halfway through. The New Age synth falls into the background and lets a jumpy set of loops take the wheel, but not for long; a pitch-shifting keyboard line runs the loops out of the speakers and delivers a flat, bagpipe-esque drone. That drone fades out to provide a background for a pretty set of chords played on a delayed-to-hell analog synth.

Side B is very diverse, but it's almost too much of a contrast to Side A, which provides some great shifts in dynamic within its sixteen minutes. Side B doesn't flow nearly as easily; although none of the movements are bad, they seem too out of step, not giving you a chance to let them wash over you before they're gone.