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Personnel: John "Black Sampson" Gibson, John Gibson (harmonium). The New Zealand-based duo of Paddy Free and Michael Hodgson had been making a unique blend of dub, techno, house, and ambient music for a decade when Rude Mechanicals was originally released in 2007. (It was reissued in 2009.) It wouldn't be entirely accurate to say that it represented a step in the group's evolution; a Pitch Black album has always been a churning cauldron of dubwise electro elements, and those basic elements have remained pretty consistent over the years. But it does find them continuing to refine their command of those elements, and Rude Mechanicals contains some of the richest and most satisfying Pitch Black tracks yet. These include the gorgeous steppers dub of "1000 Mile Drift," which features brilliant vocals by Brother J; the spacious but sturdy dub-house of "Sonic Colonic"; and the reggaefied title track, which has been plucked from this album and remixed in several different places. But perhaps the album's finest moment comes at the very end, with "Please Leave Quietly" -- which takes jungly beats and lays them gently, like lace, over a warm bed of galactically spacious ambient sounds and a nearly subliminal wash of chords. By turns danceable and contemplative, this is music that appeals equally to the head and the hips. ~ Rick Anderson
