[We receive a lot of quality electronic-music releases at The Stranger—way more than we can cover in the paper itself. With that in mind, I hope to frequently post brief reviews on Line Out of electronic-oriented albums and EPs that I think deserve your attention.]

Ethernet
144 Pulsations of Light
(Kranky)

California producer Ethernet (Tim Gray) makes his Kranky Records debut with 144 Pulsations of Light, a seven-course serving of lightly toasted techno and beatific, gauzy ambient. One can imagine several of these cuts wafting their way onto Kompakt's Pop Ambient compilation series (compliment). Gray keeps the 4/4 pulse muffled below modestly opulent synth textures and field recordings executed in Japan and northern California. "Vaporous" is almost too self-explanatory, an American take on Wolfgang Voigt's Gas project, but it's still transportive, its beats like a runner's heart heard amplified from a quarter-mile away. "Seaside" lulls with exquisitely gentle beauty, like an E'd-out Eno. "Temple" murmurs like a convention of monks and fuzzily tolls like a bell heard five fathoms deep, its nearly 13 minutes a coming attraction trailer for an existence of serene meditation and tranquil flotation.

Like much of Kranky's output (see excellent 2009 releases by Tim Hecker, Greg Davis, Gregg Kowalsky, and the soon-coming White Rainbow), 144 Pulsations serves as an adult version of Raymond Scott's Soothing Sounds for Babies series of albums. As someone who experiences much stress in his life, I find myself often playing Kranky CDs first thing in the AM and last thing at night, as a way to calibrate my nervous system to these crucial times of the day. Ethernet is yet another skilled purveyor of music that effectively centers the busy, beleaguered 21st-century urbanite.

"Based on my research and experience in using sound for induction of meditative states, I set out to apply trance-inducing sonic effects to drone-ambient music," Gray writes. "The intent of the album is to produce an introspective sonic environment conducive to self-healing work and voyaging into new states of awareness." Mission accomplished, Tim.