REVIEWS reviews...... sounds...... pictures...... words...... links...... info from Option #79 March/April 1998   eM · Djinn One release on this new electronic label, the Apiary's Descent, is a muted, somewhat melancholy affair, with sounds of nature (running or dripping water, etc.), occasional ethnic flutes, simple percussion and mellow synthesizer melodies. EM's Djinn is an altogether more experimental affair. Using relatively simple equipment, a four-track recorder and no sampling, eM (Michael Bentley) more than makes up for his limited technical resources with an abundance of imagination and touches of humor (e.g., a piece called "Ravelero Driver (On)," which combines a muffled radio broadcast of Ravel's infamous "Bolero" with clicking Geiger counter percussion.) Human heartbeat rhythms are used to good advantage on other pieces, and eM also combines manipulated signal generators, electronic drones and processed voices into a kind of musique concrete. Some pieces are rather slight, but it's nice to know that there are still some electronic experimenters who aren't trying to sound like everybody else. (Bill Tilland)