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):
When I tell you Octant use a drum machine, I don’t mean an electronic beatbox: I mean an actual machine that plays real drums.
The brainchild of singer-songwriter Matthew Steinke, the AD3 Octant is a bizarre robotic contraption which is outfitted with mallets and drumsticks and controlled by computer commands. It all appears to be part of Steinke’s general mission statement: To merge impersonal technology (albeit homemade, jury-rigged technology) with the intimacy and warmth of indie-pop. The robot traps, junkyard synths and oscillators — which often sound vaguely similar to The Residents or Devo’s quirkier moments — are the electronic guts, but Steinke’s oddly endearing, introspective cyberpop tales of replicants, walkers with headlights and “objects that are fake” are what give it a human heartbeat.