Its hard not to notice the marked similarities between the work of Brighton producer Pridon and Warps bubble n squeak stalwarts Plaid. Now living in Greece, where he keeps himself busy as a music and sound designer for television and radio, Pridons output glowing with both wide-eyed wonderment and vaguely dystopic darkness is charmingly reminiscent of the London duos heavily hybridised post-techno, while managing to keep its own distinctive musical trajectory. New Steine, his new EP for emerging Athens label-folk Low Impedance, is a case in point. The follow-up to his 2005 full length for the Vibrant Music imprint, this six-track EP draws from a basis of blocky rhythmic structures, springing beat-craft, and cute, circular melodic inferences to mould a sound that breaches bubbly, bounce-laden hip-hop as nimbly as it does opaque, synth-heavy IDM. Flipping from the insatiably fat, low-end cuteness of Caretta and Relax, to the slanted drumnbass of Scruffy and dark, scything dub of Legh Naoum, New Stein shows Pridon to be on top of his game. Of course, which particular game that is a lovingly rehashed version of Pac Man, or the latest in the irrepressibly sinister Doom series remains perfectly and flawlessly unclear.

Pridon’s 25-minute set roots itself in retro-styled IDM that occasionally echoes Plaid in its bright jubilance (“Relax,‿ with its tumbling beats, off-kilter melodies, and slinky vibe); the disc also adds spasmodic drill’n’bass to the synth washes and staccato burble of “Scruffy.‿ Considerably more interesting by comparison are the tracks where Voudouris infuses his material with the infectious syncopation of African percussion. The swizzling synths and bouncy beats of “Caretta‿ are enhanced by shakers and sticks while “Sortman Tales‿ presents a similarly effective stomp of writhing synth squelches and blips. The disc is nicely capped by Peeky Tayloh’s “Relax (remix)‿ which transforms the original entirely by bringing forth a warm streaming ambiance and emphasizing intricate spindly beat structures.

As flirtatiously light as Backbone was dark, Pridon’s New Steine is filled with frisky analog synthesis, loopy programming unrestrained by gravity. Pridon makes me feel like I could strap my speakers to my feet and still manage to get off the ground.

“Caretta” is moody analog melodies alongside coughing electronics and laid-back drum programming. Sweet and tart like a glass of lemonade. But with floating bits of pulp that give it texture on the way down. “Relax” chatters and swings with a fanciful wiggle. The drum kit, chattering with the brushed enthusiasm of a tightly wound jazz drummer, licks and kicks behind the melodies, offering a vibrant rhythm upon which everyone gets a ride. (While Peekay Tayloh’s remix offers the same sort of jangling journey, but only backwards as tones and melodies are skewed by back-masking and echo effects.) “Scruffy” sings the body electric while drum machines tick-tock to the systolic. Furthering Pridon’s love for sumptuous analog tones, “Scruffy” is only off-kilter because of its predilection for IDM rhythms, staggered beats which cavort to a generative pulse.

A departure from the dancing organics of other tracks, “Legh Naoun” lives for less than two minutes and barely gets a chance to delve into its deep basso rumble. It dies a premature death—a too-brief life of whispering punctuation and dark echoes. Maybe this is what happens to songbirds when they are caged: restrained too long, their songs become dirges. A fair warning, perhaps, or a melancholic reminder at the end of a half hour of chirpy goodness.