Sir Alice‘s exploration of technoid art rock is head-scratchingly obtuse at moments, fearlessly self-indulgent at others. This is not a good thing. “La Maîtresse” drones on endlessly in digitized French, “Technotronic” sounds like Kid606 screwing with Cibo Matto samples, and “L‘homme Qui Vient D‘en Bas” is just plain scary. Yet all is not lost-“Ballad” sends PJ Harvey-esque moaning through a fun-house effects processor, “Bouda” succeeds mightily with its electropunk recklessness, and “Onanisme” has a dark, lusty quality that‘s almost cinematic in feel, but it‘s certainly not enough to save Nº 2 from the rubbish bin.