Zap masters techno, fiction in 'Wormhole'

Master Zap

'Wormhole' www.mp3.com/zap Overall Rating: ****

"So groovy that your cheese will spontaneously slice itself in the fridge!!!" — yes, three exclamation points — is how Master Zap's track "Cheeze Slicer" is described on his mp3.com Webpage.

Hakan "Zap" Andersson, a composer of electronic music from Eskilstuna, Sweden, uses the pseudonym Master Zap in the music world.

Though he may not be well known, his work stands on its own merit. His music is featured on mp3.com at www.mp3.com/zap, where it can be downloaded in various formats or purchased on CD's. He also sells CD's on his own website, www.master-zap.com.

One of Zap's most popular albums is "Wormhole (1999)" — a title which suggests the idea of a "hole" in space which would allow travel over huge astronomical distances in short amounts of time.

"One Small Step for Man," one of the tracks on the album, is a creative manipulation of Neil Armstrong's famous statement from the surface of the moon during the first American lunar landing. (The tone and pitch of the recording are digitally altered so that it seems that the legendary astronaut is actually singing along with the music.)

"Space Dream" has a dance party sound, yet includes an operatic female vocal, a combination which would seem to clash, but which actually works extremely well. In describing the track on his mp3.com page, Zap writes, "trance collides with opera and a space-like feeling and a deep beat."

Other interesting tracks include "Let the Computer Speak" and "Start/Sequence."

Zap's other albums include "Monster Beats," a collection of Christmas music called "Xmas Special" and his debut album, "The Curvature of Space."

Music isn't the only thing Zap does though; you might call him an information-age renaissance man.

In addition to electronic music, his work includes computer graphics, musical software tools and a tutorial for musicians on how to put their music on the Internet.

He has even ventured into fiction writing with "The Story of One," which is about the life of a computer program called One. Zap's work can be found on his Website, and most of it is freely downloadable.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

There are gigabytes of good music just sitting out there in cyberspace that DJ Bob doesn't play and that major record labels and radio stations overlook.