An EP, or 24 minutes of the best radio-dial surfing on your long road trip? This one's a little of both. Two pieces from the minds of Brian Fraser and Chris Palmatier, pop-song long and melodically agile, are the parentheses to “Timeline”, a collaboration between Pepito's José Márquez and the men of BNC – the moment when the car stereo settles on an unusual, compelling DJ mix and lets it ride a while.

“Scintilla” kicks off with a propulsive (Afro-) beat, drops in a horn section (courtesy of Garth Steel Klippert and Bill Swan), and sets the tone – danceable, ebullient, quirky. “Timeline”, over the course of its 17 minutes and 9 sections, veers from pastoral electronic ambience to sludgy riffing, hand-clapping 70's funk to yearning early-80's synth anthems – a rich melange where instruments recorded on the spur of the moment take the place of crates of records. “Invisible Spaceship”, a jazzy chorus fused to finely-grated drum-and-bass beats, both encapsulates and draws to a close the preceding space odyssey. As the final waves of guitar recede, the miles roll on... Is that HAL 9000 on the roadside, looking to hitch a ride?

Alternative Content

Invisible Spaceship
(8MB .mp3 file)

Bakelite: Timeline
(52MB .zip file)
10 songs, all 320kbps mp3s.