Somewhere between the digital dissonance of recent Aphex Twin and the lo-fi ambient-pop beats of San Francisco microlabel Darla Records lies New York's Marumari, an artist obsessed with machine overloads and lullabies who's trying his darnedest to squeeze both into the same sonic space. The creation of twentysomething audio and video programmer Josh Presseisen, Marumari is a testament to the blossoming of beautiful, claustrophobic electronic music emanating from bedroom studios around the world.

But The Wolves Hollow, Marumari's second full-length LP in less than six months(!), is proof that this music isn't just for fringe geeks and IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) insiders. Like Console's recent Rocket in the Pocket, with which it shares a certain grimy aesthetic, Hollow is as much a progressive pop album as it is an invention of musical modernism.

Thematically united by a "White Fang"-meets-Tarzan-meets-"War of the Worlds" tale, as told in the CD booklet, Hollow's compositions are extensions of an imagination raised on childhood fables, sci-fi images and a lifetime of computer-generated influences, from "Star Wars" special effects to Yaz. At their most exquisitely accessible, these are atmospheric remixes of pop tunes heard in dreams.

"Searching for the Sasha Wolf" (RealAudio excerpt) is like a bedroom-beats reorganization of Bowie's "It's No Game" as played by the Thompson Twins; "Crescent Moon Blues" (RealAudio excerpt) is a space-age white-funk stride powered by cross-fading Casios and dubbed-out radio transmissions; and after its escape from a drum-pad twilight zone, the magnificent 86 seconds of "Carnivorous Temptations Part 1" (RealAudio excerpt) morphs into a melodic masterpiece under the auspices of a startling three-note loop.

Obviously, this doesn't add up to pop as Abba fans (or even White Town fans) hear it, but Marumari and his ilk are brightening fringes that've been known to scare the casual music listener back into the top 40.