[12.03] The new disc from Alias, appropriately titled Muted, may be the best ambient record of the year.

That's not to say that Alias makes ambient music—it's instrumental hip-hop—but within Brian Eno's original intention for the term, Muted makes for great ambience. As the backdrop for a conversation, or as a cinematic environment, the record works great. If anyone ever remakes the French film Diva (not that anyone should), this would be a perfect soundtrack.

As a straight listen, though, it may leave you wanting more. Muted has rich backgrounds at every step, but few characters at the fore. On last year's excellent Deadringer record, RJD2 gave face and personality to the instrumental cuts by splattering the canvas with horns and the occasional siren. With Muted, there's rarely a melody to be found in the stream of steely analog pads and crickety high-end. Alias's beats are fantastic and creative, but they don't step up to command the listener's focus.

For those listening (rather than using the record as accompaniment), the few places where human voices pop up mark the highlights of the record. "Am I Cool Now?" may be Muted's shortest and most flippant track, but it's also the most interesting listen. A catchy, pitched-up bass riff cycles in and drops to silence every eight bars, leaving space to hear one kid's harsh criticism of Anticon hip-hop as "just stupid nerd-rap" that tries "too hard to be weird" and knows "nothing about the culture that created hip-hop." It's a smart-ass response to the braggadocio and posturing of MCs, and it's a crack-up.

Pedestrian's guest rap on "The Physical Voice" is another highlight, not so much for the lyrics but for the huge, nearly-uncomfortable gaps of space that Alias leaves between verses. It's the most daring few minutes of production on a record where risk-taking is minimal.

The only other cameo is "Unseen Sights," featuring Markus Acher from the Notwist. Acher sounds like he could be Nico's orphaned son, but his phoned-in detachment leaves a sour taste in Alias's chilly environment. In this space where human voices and human passion are longed for, hipster cool merely chafes.

Some savvy film producer should call Alias immediately. His stylish choices of samples alone—a sax breath from INXS's "Mediate" here, a dock squeaking or a plank creaking over there -- would make for a great score. Until then, or until Madison Avenue starts poaching the tracks from Muted for BMW ads, Alias's sophisticated hip-hop landscapes will sound great at cocktail parties and upscale drinking establishments. —Kevin Seal