It's almost a century since the futurist manifesto declared war on sonic convention. Whilst bombarding listeners with his intonarumori, Luigi Russolo was sounding a fanfare for a new era. Even so, he would surely have been astounded by what the 'art of noises' would eventually inspire. Battles have been fought against banality. Cultural territory has been conquered. electronic pulses are everywhere.

With this heritage, it's easy to see why electronic musicians so frequently opt for the shock of the new. Here we go again, striving to be different:

'What's new?' I ask the good folk at Bear HQ.

'How about the latest Octavcat EP?'

So, here we are. A nice, green CD is spinning away in my laptop and – after a quick burst of mangled video game noise – the first tune is well under way. It clearly isn't one for The Wire readers. No one is going to be bamboozled or befuddled by Octavcat – they wear their influences with pride. Rather than challenging our preconceptions of electronic music, they seem quite happy to affirm them.

These tracks would sound at home on an ambient techno compilation from that golden era before Warp started flirting with NYpunk-funk and Rephlex began wallowing in grime. Some familiar features are at play. Elliptical, reverb-smudged melodies, hanging wistfully above chiming chords and swirling synths – thanks Plaid. Crunchy BOC beats; following that groove laid down the first time Aphex, Autechre or LFO fed their drum boxes through phono inputs. A dollop of playful shuffle, just like Herbert, Fleckner or Plone. Check, check, check. So what's new?

But wait. Before we get carried away pointing out all the ways in which this EP fails to be original, let's try a more worldly perspective. Advocates of most genres are happy to accept that their music should stick to certain principles. Country fans rarely complain when their favourite artists release yet another finger-picking, steel-strung tune in D. Reggae lovers take no issue when they hear a skanky strat marking every offbeat. Why should we expect every electronica album to push back boundaries and sculpt new sounds?

All told, I like Octavcat. Though their work is hardly groundbreaking, it is bound to appeal to anyone who ever liked nineties Warp releases and has enough emotional resonance to reach fans of other styles too. At best, tracks like Across The Sea provide concise sketches of distant and mysterious places, coloured brightly by quirky rhythmic insistence and restless dynamics. They may not be a challenging listen, but they're surely preferable to the sound of some perverse modernist trying to make your eardrums bleed.