Drawing on the paranoid and surreal political and cultural climate, Jack Dangers likens the record “to an MC Escher optical illusion which spirals around and around and never seems to end.” The delights of a good Meat Beat record—a magpie approach to collecting sounds, combined with a tasteful precision in arranging and deploying them, are very much present and make Impossible Star is a very good Meat Beat record indeed.
While less bombastic than Dangers’ ’90s albums, many of which came strapped with absolute banger singles (“Asbestos Lead Asbestos,” “Radio Babylon,” “Helter Skelter,” “Acid Again,” etc.), it evokes their wide-ranging combination of macabre moodiness, driving dance beats and playful aural collage, all while sounding surprisingly contemporary. Its prevailing sound is a blend of Tim Hecker’s fearful noise and Kieran Hebden’s shiny, happy studio wizardry, from an artist who predates them both and long ago recognized the thrilling emotional and intellectual power of that combination.
| A1 | One | 2:41 |
| A2 | Bass Playa | 2:43 |
| A3 | We Are Surrounded | 5:58 |
| A4 | Unique Boutique | 3:02 |
| A5 | Nocebo | 5:31 |
| B1 | Impossible Star | 3:54 |
| B2 | Lurkers 1-3 | 14:52 |
| C1 | T.M.I. | 5:16 |
| C2 | Liquidators | 2:59 |
| C3 | Nereus Rov | 3:31 |
| D1 | Synthesizer Teste | 4:40 |
| D2 | Rejector | 3:04 |
| D3 | The Darkness | 5:42 |
