After a four-decade absence, Tod Dockstader returned with Aerial #1, one of 2005‘s finest albums. The musique concrète pioneer‘s lifelong fascination with shortwave radio transmissions drove him to record over 90 hours of such noises to digitally sculpt into music. The results are just as haunting and vaporous as the voices and songs that fill the sky. The second installation of the Aerial series has more ominous drone-scapes, like the sublime ballad “Wah.” However, there are some jagged microtones that hinder the album‘s momentum. Nonetheless, Dockstader still has a sharp ear for the constant music from which he extracted just 90 hours.