For the past five years nsi have been playing the electronic music field by their own rules, from releasing adventurous minimalistic techno on Luciano's Cadenza imprint to experimental piano renditions on Finnish cult label Sähko.

As nsi Max Loderbauer and Tobias Freund release music that is anything but commonplace. Both producers have an extensive background in audio engineering, with Freund having worked for everyone from Ellen Allien to Milli Vanilli, and releasing techno under the name tobias. Loderbauer meanwhile is known as a member of Sun Electric, Moritz Von Oswald Trio and has a joint album with Ricardo Villalobos in the works.

Their latest effort 'Sync' is yet another milestone in the pair's illustrious discography. Subtitled '24 pieces for drum machine and sequencer' the album is essentially a sketchbook of short rhythmic patterns created on an extensive array of analogue gear.

nsi go as far as listing each piece of equipment used in the album's track titles: a Doepfer modular system (+), an EML 400/401 synth (#), an Eventide Time Factor delay pedal (*), a Korg Mini Pops 7 (=), a Korg MS 20 (•), a Makenoise Maths module (<), an MFB Dual LFO module (ø), and a Roland CR 78 drum machine (>).

Mastered at Villalobos' Half Inch Magic studio, the individual tracks come together as an intriguing conceptual album exploring themes of musical reduction, repetition and difference, and voltage-controlled sound and pattern generation. Uniquely beautiful and highly recommended.