This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Innovative electronica artist Robin Rimbaud takes his nom de disque from an unusual weapon in his arsenal: A modified police scanner that he uses to intercept cell-phone calls, which he manipulates and incorporates into his darkly hypnotic, minimalist drum ’n’ bass.
Live, as I can testify after catching him at an L.A. club, it makes for captivating shows — nobody, including him, knows quite what’s coming next. It’s a tough act to translate to CD, however; first off, the immediacy isn’t there, and second, privacy and wiretap laws probably make it legally dicey. As a result, this disc finds him toning down the live samples or masking them heavily with effects, while relying more on electronic elevator voices and the like. While it’s not nearly as titillating as eavesdroping on phone sex, these head-trippy urban soundscapes are still compelling pieces that truly put the tech in techno.
