Nearly three years after their last release, STS9 (or the artists formerly known as Sound Tribe Sector 9) have returned with their fourth studio album, Peaceblaster.

There are lots of layers here: chords and samples developing over bass and drums to make complex statements that return in later tracks, tweaked here and there to make brand new musical statements. It's ambient, it's techno, it's electronica, it's all of them laced together in a futuristic jam band sort of way. One track you feel things are getting loud and strong, and next thing you know they've eased off the throttle to give you a breather. And they take their time doing it. The album's fifteen tracks churn and glide for over an hour with a handful of them running six plus minutes. The band uses that time to develop the currents the tracks take along the journey.

There's nothing to sing along with here, but if you're looking for an album to spin while lying on your back, staring up into the stars, and contemplating why male sea horses give birth, this is it.