In 2003, Brad Laner collaborated with vocalist Shannon Lee (daughter of Bruce) for an album of polished yet glitchy and fuzzy electropop called The Mechanical Forces of Love. The album was credited to Laner's most famous band, Medicine, but it had barely anything in common with the group's '90s incarnation, and wasn't nearly as good. 2.0 Extraneous, released in 2017 (a few years after Medicine's original core lineup reunited and released two well-received albums on Captured Tracks), collects B-sides and unreleased material from the Laner/Lee iteration of the group. In some ways, it seems like it could just as easily be an album of outtakes from Laner's solo electronic project Electric Company -- all the early-2000s Tigerbeat6 glitches and buzzes are present. These tracks are a bit more experimental than the ones that ended up on Mechanical Forces, which sometimes works to their advantage, as much of that album simply felt like it was trying too hard to sound accessible. Unfortunately, these tracks don't quite work either. Songs like "Talk to a Rock" seem interesting on the surface, with R&B vocals constantly interrupted by left turns and shredded distortion, but they never add up to something worth revisiting. An acoustic demo of Mechanical Forces' "Best Future" reflects their desire to write straight-up, feel-good pop songs, which is all fine and dandy, but it just doesn't sound that compelling. By far the most complete-sounding song is a fuzzed-up cover of Devo's "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize." Strangely enough, the album's highlight ends up being "Close-Up of Family's Dream," the 13-minute opus that ends the album. The dream-prog epic cycles through several movements, often featuring Beach Boys harmonies, distant drums, frayed guitar distortion, and a few moments of introspection, all ending with a refreshing storm of glitched-out noise. 2.0 Extraneous is certainly of interest to Laner completists, especially ones who thought Mechanical Forces was a fresh new start rather than a failed experiment, but anyone unfamiliar with his work is advised to check out Medicine's Shot Forth Self Living or Electric Company's Studio City instead.