Album review: Todd Rundgren, State (Esoteric Antenna)

State sees Todd Rundgren deliver his customary laconic commentaries on a world gone mad from behind a wall of rock, techno and dubstep riffs.

"Imagination" opens the album with a statement of intent, fluttering in on synth arpeggios before landing with massive, dark Black Sabbath chords, Todd announcing "I am what I am, I have no plans to sell myself." Proof comes in the ensuing, resolutely playlist-unfriendly range of styles, from the pumping techno of "Smoke", and the dubstep shapes of "Collide-A-Scope", to the gorgeous Steely Dan chords of "In My Mouth".

Download: In My Mouth; Imagination; Collide-A-Scope