*1/2 Darren Price

UNDER THE FLIGHT PATH

(Nova Mute)

Under the Flight Path is an album about space travel with a simple formula: take a bit of trance-inducing techno, anchor it down with a 4/4 drum-machine stomp, add a few swirling synthesizer washes and futuristic machine sounds, and, presto, you've got a ticket to Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, Darren Price (who toured as Underworld's official DJ last year) forgot to load the dilithium crystals to fuel the warp drive, so Flight Path never quite gets into orbit. It's stuck in the techno-spaceport hangar circa 1993, and even the occasional forays into the polyrhythmic territory of jungle (on "Long Haul 747") get squashed by the oppressively straightforward beats. There are a few innovative sounds on the album, notably the quasi-African synth drums of "Phizz" and the telegraphic bleeps of "Blueprints." But Price's space-travel and ghost-in-the-machine themes are too obvious to warrant much discussion. The result is about as engaging as your average in-flight magazine.

-- Chris Tweney