This is a disc I've been meaning to listen to for sooooooooooo long but I've finally got the chance to sit down and give it a spin. So here's my thoughts:
I came to this disc because I have always been looking for more notable electronic music in surround sound. One thing that has seriously surprised me about this hobby is that there are so little notable/good surround releases that are electronic (not that i dislike non electronic music). And there's even less (if any) electronic albums that are notable/good and are specifically made for the format. This Binary Universe seems to be the king of everything I just mentioned.
Also BT is one of those electronic music guys who's just got a pretty important and quality catalogue of music. I had already heard ESCM and Ima which are his first two albums. Both of those are pure Trance bliss that pushes the normally generic genre into a style bursting with color and creativity. Ima and ESCM use such a vast group of influences and styles, which makes a turn to the type of music here on This Binary Universe seem not super out there in retrospect. More on that later though.
One album I see getting tossed around here a lot when it comes to electronic music in 5.1 is Tipper's Surrounded. I have heard this album, and honestly, once you hear more music in it's style (such as This Binary Universe) you'll quickly realize it's a pretty dated and uninteresting take on Downtempo with some production cues from IDM. That's not to say Surrounded is a horrible album, which it isn't, but in the grander scheme of things disregarding 5.1 there is simply no reason to listen to that album when you can listen to Tippers contemporaries such as Boards of Canada or Autechre which both do IDM and Downtempo worlds better than Tipper could ever dream of.
What sets This Binary Universe apart is that outside of 5.1 audio, it is still a phenomenal and worthwhile album, and I can easily recommend it to any fan of electronic music.
This Binary Universe is a genuinely daring and ambitious release. There are no other albums out there that I know of that fuse IDM with modern classical, glitch, ambient, progressive electronic and even jazz like This Binary Universe does. And the most amazing part about it is that it never feels forced. This album goes from complex and euphoric IDM into unusual jazz type stuff and then to Modern Classical sections with grace, and it never feels forced. There are albums that try to do a similar thing, of fusing tons of wacky genre's together, but very rarely does it actually come off in a way that forwards the album's concept and emotions. Each idea that's put in here seems to be put there with meaning, and focus that genuinely adds to the music.
This album has a unique super life affirming feeling which I almost never get from any IDM albums. It puts me in a totally different world, a world thats oddly organic yet not at the same time. Though it's a lot more than just an escapist project, it's relatable in a way. The world that This Binary Universe brings me to isn't that far off of what the world we live in from day to day, almost a sort of reflection in a way.
Okay okay that's enough pretentious rambling, but how is the mix? And the answer to that is stunning, and rivals yoshimi battles the pink robots for being my favorite surround mix. The thing that is so genius and insane about both Yoshimi's mix and TBU's mix is that they both are super intricate and discrete yet they somehow both feel very together and not too discrete. This album's mix takes advantage of every single speaker and opportunity to move something around the room no matter how daring or difficult it may be. It's very clear that this album was made for 5.1, and was a big creative force driving this album.
I may have gotten a bit carried away there, but in conclusion, this album is not only now one of my favorite albums of all time, but one of my absolute top surround mixes out there. I don't really ever give out 10's but.... Easy 10/10 for the music and mix, and obviously a 10 overall.