Colin Newman's first solo album in more than nine years,
Bastard shows a mighty progression from 1988's It Seems. It should be said that
Newman had hardly been silent during the interval, however; he was releasing material as Oracle and Immersion during the mid-'90s, which showed him working with electronica quite fluently.
Bastard has all of this and more.
Newman forsakes vocals completely, but does use guitar patterns from his days in
Wire, along with much more melody than on most electronic releases. The result is an album with no concessions to song-based forms, but instead a willingness to use those styles to create diverting music. ~ John Bush