Disquiet

The collection of “short” pieces on Adrian Kowalczewski‘s seven-song EP Short Dance Songs aren’t all danceable — except in the “intelligent dance music” sense of the word: jittery, blurpy figments of digital pop that mess with beats as they go but have a syrupy, sweet, yet engaging sentimentality to them. They range through a series of 21st-century variations, including “Short Movie Song” (MP3), which is moody and understated, and “Short Vocal Song (parts 1 + 2)” (MP3), which works in vocoded bits of android yammering. The highlight is likely “Too Short 8 Bit Love Song” (MP3), which is more blippy than blurpy, more emotionally remote than the remainder, like a soundtrack to your life, if your life were an old arcade game. Get the full set as the estimable netlabel Test Tube, monocromatica.com/netlabel.

By Marc Weidenbaum