Travels in Asia and Africa have inspired synthesist and composer Bob Holroyd's multi-cultural blend of electronica. A Different Space features the underground club classic "African Drug" as well as a wide spectrum of ambient atmospherics and rhythmic tribal beats.

A Different Space is Holroyd's third full-length CD, and perhaps the best example of his omnivorous approach to sound. On "Something Understood," he gently propels lyrical fragments of piano and guitar with a mix of electronic and acoustic percussion. Unhurried synth lines frame two alternating vocal samples, one of traditional Asian singing and the other from the Western opera stage. In Holroyd's musical gumbo, unexpected combinations like this somehow seem inevitable. There are a lot of musical "bakers" around these days: they take a pinch of this, add a dash of that, stir it all up and hope that it tastes good. But there's a real composer at work here. It's evident in places like the end of "Something Understood," where the two vocal samples finally come together, over a suddenly rising bass line that ties them together and brings them to a neat conclusion.