From its minimal start, Supercollider’s debut showcases a band that was happily and completely out of sync with almost everything around it — nothing in American pop and rock music of 1991 sounded anything like it, much less the indie music scene it was part of by default. Michael Horton’s higher-pitched speak-singing voice and less-is-more guitar playing suggested a more wired-up version of Vini Reilly of the Durutti Column, a comparison slightly heightened by the drums of Phillip Haut here and there. But instead of reflective dreaminess, there was power without explosion here — guitars were played as punchy pulse-making instruments, setting rhythms and shifting moods rather than playing conventional melodies. Vague parallels could be suggested with the similar maximum/minimum approach of Krautrock bands like Can or Neu!, but there isn’t any connection in terms of the sound. The sampler the duo used — which rather than filling out the mix was used to create the core notes and patterns Horton and Haut played around and with — is the secret weapon, used beautifully. Horton’s guitar overdubs on “Supercollider” itself, the album’s sole instrumental, are masterpieces of atmosphere as obsessive speed — Haut doesn’t even drum on it — while the jauntiness/reflectiveness juxtaposition of “Sooner” makes it a standout. Slower songs gave both players a chance to show even more ability and variety, finding a hard-to-describe balance between tension and a strange calm. Horton’s obsessive repeating of the final syllable of the song title in “Aluminum,” whether chopped up and looped or spoken, becomes an eerily beautiful mantra, while the piano of “Pedestrian” adds a sweet, strange beauty reminiscent of Colin Newman’s early-’80s work. The concluding “Primary” may well be the most conventional of all the songs in ways — a line of descent from Joy Division via a hint of early U2 is clear — but as before it’s the careful, calm arrangement that shows this is Supercollider’s song, a lovely fragility. – Ned Raggett