Lazer Crystal are billed enigmatically as "three humans and various mechanisms from the city of Chicago, Illinois".
They are three young men whose purpose is to create the music that, according to their mission statement, takes account of the 'reality' that "we as humans are at the extreme promontory of the centuries............. moving beyond Time and Space toward the absolute, since we have discovered eternal, omnipresent speed".
Personally speaking, I would argue that the human race is moving rapidly toward the 'obsolete' rather than the 'absolute' but everyone is entitled to their opinions.
The Roman numerals of the album title translate as 1980 and, appropriately enough, we are taken on a sonic journey back to a pre-pro-tools age - a time when robotic synth effects are radically contemporary and lazer light shows are the height of modernity; a world in which Space Invaders is viewed as a cutting edge video game.
Lazer Crystal's music sounds like they are deliberately snubbing the pristine quality of 21st century electro-pop. Take, for example, the muddy retro mixes and repetitive beats of instrumentals like Bad Indian and Hot Pink BMX which seem to be making the point that if it worked in 1980, it can work now.
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The vocals too could be straight out of a New Romantic time capsule. Several tracks, notably National Handbag and La Rouche , could easily pass for Duran Duran demo tapes.
If all this was done tongue in cheek there might be a quaint charm to this nostalgia trip. The problem is that the package is presented in an earnest and pompous manner.
It is almost as if this back to the future threesome have got the co-ordinates of their time machine askew but no-one has yet had the courage to tell them.
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