Casio MP3 EP

Aaron McCammon is said to have recorded the entirety of his seven-track EP, APM, on a pair of inexpensive Casio machines: the RP-1 (“RP” being short for Rapman, which was aimed at kids) and the CA-110. The result is not a self-satisfied act of retro for retro’s sake, though the climax of “Night Tab” has the faux-orchestral breadth of a canned TV soundtrack. No, there’s far more here. “We Keep Our Prices Low Through Your Donations” has a lovely, trance-like spaciness. The brief “2003,” with its Pacman-ready rhythm track, features a topical Beatnik war-time newscast (“when Hummers fell through the air like rain”). And “Ohio River” has the pipsqueak pummel of goofy, nihilistic laptop punk. (Check the album out, on the kikapu.com netlabel, here. More on McCammon at plosive.net.)