After an onslaught of releases during the first half of the 2000s, keeping the notion of glitch music fresh and engaging is quite the challenge, as the sound palette has been all but exhausted and spent beyond its capacity to remain a central piece of a composition. And while
Dictaphone don't exactly make glitches the forefront of
Vertigo II, they use the textures to complement the field recordings and instrumentation in the forefront throughout. A blend of horns, woodwinds, and thundering basslines is the focal point throughout the record's 12 tracks, and the balance between the stark use of the organic and digital is uncomfortable yet pleasant.
Vertigo II is the soundtrack to a haunting black-and-white movie that has yet to be made. ~ Rob Theakston