Listening to BT's music makes it seem as if the last decade of development in electronica never happened. And coming from him, you wouldn't want it any other way. The man who kick-started the trance genre still does it best, whether it's instrument-based or one long exhalation of synth. That's probably because the knob-twiddling prodigy is classically trained and believes more in 10-minute sprawls than 30-second hooks. "These Hopeful Machines" boasts fully conceived electronic symphonies with melodies that often stick. One example is the impossibly gorgeous track "Every Other Way," which spins a slowly mounting spell of harmonies and syncopation during its entire 11 minutes. And "Forget Me" is a high-energy rock-out that resolves with BT's young daughter repeating the chorus over nursery chimes. "These Hopeful Machines" is all that electronic music can be: expansive, beautiful, enveloping and, oh yes, human. Maybe that's why those machines are so hopeful.
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