Minesweeper Suite is a complex album by a very imaginative person. It is unlike any other record I have heard on Kid 606's Tigerbeat 6 label.

If you have ever heard DJ Rupture's self-released Gold Teeth Thief CD [read gullbuy review] you know what this CD is about. Both CDs follow the same formula. Songs that DJ Rupture envision get placed together in the company of unlikely partners.

Very few people COULD make a record like this, as very few people have tastes and breadth of music knowledge like DJ Rupture from which to draw source material. DJ Rupture started out in Boston as part of the Toneburst Collective. He moved the NY, then moved to Barcelona, where he currently resides.

He knows African tribal music, old time laments by greats like Nina Simone (Plain Gold Ring is blended with Gregory Whitehead on track 12), popular r n' b like Heat Sensor (Tectonic is blended in on track #2), classic disco like Donna Summer (her song Big Work is blended with 4 other things on the last track).

DJ Rupture does not only choose the obscure to be cool - he takes the well known Roberta Flack song Killing Me Softly as the centerpiece of my favorite track on the disc. His version does not mock or destroy the original. Is is very tasteful and reserved. It could fit on one of the French late lounge compilations in a heartbeat.

I could copy the song credit listing in the CD and elaborate on every single track. Each cut surprises. I have read reviews of this CD that concentrate on his laptop/broken beat usage (he blends parts of DJ Scud, Cex, DAT Politics, Kid 606, and others), but this is not a true view of this record.

As I see it, Minesweeper Suite is for the same type of Audience that likes the Amsterdam group The Ex. DJ Rupture is daring and not always comforting, but he is artful and never noisy for the sake of noise.

Personally, I am not so fond of the dancehall and rap vocals he uses in a few instances, but no sound or style dwells in Minesweeper Suite long enough to repel a listener.

If you are adventurous in your music taste, and you like being challenged, I say - go for this CD: you won't be disappointed. I am glad that Kid 606 put this out on his well distributed label. It was a pity that so few people got to hear the Gold Teeth Thief CD. It is as good as this disc. You can order it through the Web site linked to DJ Rupture's name above.