Real Ghosts

Quite possibly an acknowledgment of the glut of nondescript downtempo-electronic records released since early 2002's Valis (and the market was over-stuffed well before then), Christian Kleine's third album features a pair of relatively bruising guitar-oriented tracks, in addition to a handful of other productions that fall perfectly in line with his past without merely repeating it. "That's Why You Came" is the biggest surprise, Kleine's first truly club-friendly production -- it still factors in plenty of the melancholy sentiment that has been customary in all of his work -- but it's based around a smart, propulsive groove that would no doubt cause some jealousy from the DFA production team. The human drums and multiple guitar lines that form the basis of "Ghostwriting," one of the rock-based tracks, sound a lot more Dischord than City Centre Offices, but they manage to sound like a natural diversion for Kleine. More importantly, he's able to mix up the wildly varying moods of this album in a very convincing fashion. Andy Kellman.