Mound Magnet, Jan St. Werner’s fifth Lithops full-length — following the Queries compilation, released earlier in the year — is, unsurprisingly, packed with knotty and tense electronics. It’s noticeably steadier than 2003′s Scrypt, with slightly less drastic shifts between assaultive and restful moments, along with a higher count of tangible rhythms. While this is also the most accessible Lithops disc, the tracks remain a distant cry from the likes of Jan Jelinek’s relatively rhythm-and-buried-melody-driven productions. The stark contrasts between torrents of twisted sounds and moments of relative calm — not to mention the quick alternations between the two — can really wear on a pair of attentive ears and congeal into one monolithic scrap heap. – Andy Kellman