Roadside. Cars passing regularly. Cymbals trinkle rain onto the pavement, then give way to a spare but increasingly driving and textured latinesque rhythm. Other instruments besides percussion chime in with varying durations. This is "Via L4-Norte", the first track on the Németh album "Film", which is comprised of music originally composed and performed by Stefan Németh for work by various experimental film and video artists. Here they've been reworked to varying degrees to create an album that stands alone (in other words, you don't need the films for the music to make sense). Most of these pieces tend to combine different types of spare percussion lines with electronic and acoustic/analogue soundscapes. The scheme works particularly well on "Luukkaakangas", which drives through a variety of industrial sounds led by a percussion line that sounds like iron girders banging together and gives way to a high-pitched digital alarm-clock pulse that transitions to the quieter, but not entirely softer, tones of "Soprus". Essentially, the individual tracks and the album as a whole consist of a variety of overlapping rhythms and tones in a way that allows themes to emerge and recede if you pay attention over repeated listening. And actually, it's pretty easy to pay attention over repeated listening because the soundscapes tend to draw the listener carefully in and lead him/her through each waxing and waning pattern. Piano notes form the foundation of the excellent "Transitions", and the final track, "Ortem Ende" is pushed by what sounds like brushes pulling across a snare drum head, like feet walking through shallow sand, before they stop and a variety of tones stretch percussionless towards a serene and fading horizon.