Dark Magus - Night Watchman (Alphaphone)

It's so frustrating when your favourite artist has years and years of silence between albums, only to eventually reappear with something that shows how they lost the plot somewhere along the line. That's why artists like Richard H. Kirk put others to shame. The fact that he returns as Dark Magus literally months after his last album ( as Sandoz) gives the listener the chance to track his thought process and experiments in real time. Despite the moody moniker (one of his many guises), this album is actually a lighter affair, less doomey than the previous album. If the obscura cover artwok (courtesy of Designers Republic) is anything to go by it would appear that Night Watchman is a conceptual soundtrack from sunset (21:00.07) to sunrise (5:00.09). It's true that as time moves on and the tracks progress the beats get heavier and phatter. By track three, 'Solid' the mood has shifted to a thriving urban groove that eventually sweetens but is curtailed to make way for 'Nothing Has Been Said', a post-midnight piece that begins to suggest that all is not as it seems.

In 'Mami Wata' - one of the highlights of the album - Kirk returns briefly to his industrial roots, but any atmosphere this creates is caught out on the tripwire that is 'Arma Gideon'. Although this track uses some classic vocal samples (which are noticeable by their absence across the rest of the LP) they're backed by a groove that oscillates between the annoying and the plain silly! But this seems to be just a temporary lapse in quality, followed as it is with 'Ocean Spray'. This one takes a simpler, sparser approach to vibe creation. But the best is saved till last, both the high speed drum & space of 'Funk 48' which leads into the closer 'Plastic Paradise' prove that different tracks from this album are equally DJable in all forward-thinking club environments. This is truly a cathartic album, and perfectly illustrates that which anyone who's often conscious from dusk will dawn will already know: confusing, dark, distorted passages can be framed either end with moments of wonder. 7/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Moby - I Like To Score (Mute)

What with Concrete Records' Sentialement Votre, David Arnold's Bondage epics and even Black Dog's Bullit reversions, recent months have certainly seen overkill on the dance/theme tune crossover. And now Moby's in on the act with his first new album in some time, consisting entirely of his movie soundtrack contributions from past and present. I Like To Score is certainly a mixed bag, not least because of the older tracks thrown in and the fact that Moby claims he rarely goes to see films and that most of his movie music have been performed just for the huge paycheques on offer!

The most recent tracks certainly stand out. 'Novio' from the new Joel Silver flick Double Tap is a seminal opener and leads perfectly into the mellow introduction of Moby's new take on the classic 'James Bond Theme'. But as soon as the intro's over it's downhill. This is one classic theme that can't stand to be beaten up into the big beat style, with additional production from Depeche Mode's Alan Moulder and Mute's Daniel Miller removing any original subtleties. With other new Bond themes floating around from Pulp and even Sheryl Crow, the producers are beginning to look desperate. What they should have done was go straight to Grantby, whose John Barry-esque 'Timber' was a chill out highlight of last year.

Of the older tracks on offer, 'Go' - the track that sampled David Lynch's Twin Peaks and launched Moby on the international platform - never fails to impress. Way back before the Saint and countless other recent films began mining the rich veins of electronica to sell their soundtracks, 1992's Brad Pitt film Cool World featured the likes of FSOL, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and two tracks from the man himself. But bizarrely, the Moby-defining 'Next Is The E' has been ignored for this compilation in favour of the frankly annoying 'Ah Ah'. It hasn't dated at all well (but then I never liked it much at the time). More recently recorded soundtrack excerpts don't suffer as much at the hands of time as, since then, Moby has moved away from full on contemporary sounds to use much rock and guitar thrashing. Hence the inclusion of the Spanish musings of 'Nash' and a cover of Joy Division's 'New Dawn Fades' from the Robert De Niro near-turkey 'Heat'.

I Like To Score is the perfect illustration of why I find a Moby album so infuriating. On one hand there's tracks I can't bear to listen to (the Mike Oldfield sound-alike yawnathon 'Love Theme', the hi-NRG 'Oil 1' and the aforementioned-mentioned 'Ah Ah'). But on the other hand there are brain-twistingly emotional anthems and ambient masterpieces ('God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters' from Heat 'Grace' from Space Water Onion and 'First Cool Hive' from Scream) that make me want to proclaim the genius of Moby from the rooftops. What's a reviewer to do? Maybe just ignore the bad bits rather than risk becoming schizophrenic? 9/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Negativland - IPSDESEPI (Seeland)

Listening to a Negativland album is something that everyone should experience at least once. Their best tracks are like listing to kids run riot in a candy store of media samples, where nothing is sacred. Taped conversations with corporate execs, the OJ Simpson trail, public service announcements and documentary TV are deftly mixed with MC Lyte, Ice-T and Burmese field recordings.

Negativland's little place in the musical history books is already assured, if only for having first coined the phrase "culture jamming" back in 1984 (when multimedia was a little known art-form) and later being sued by Island Records following a sampladelic art-prank on U2. But that was back in the days when U2 were sincere megalithic rock stars. Nowadays they're at pains to prove they listen to electronica, it's cool for everyone to use samples and the world has moved on. So where has that left Negativland?

The answer lies on this, their first LP for five years, a tongue-in-cheek exploration and full-blown degradation of one of the biggest threats to mankind. Not the bomb. Cola. IPSDESEPI is thirteen tracks of loops, snippets and snatches from multinational ad campaigns, all twisted and blended back into a concept album of cultural commentary. Even the title of the LP has a pseudo-dangerous air. IPSDESEPI is an anagram of the proper name of the album, which had to be held back due to copyright restrictions. To discover the true title, consumers are invited to call the band's 'Word Of Mouth' phone-line for the "correct spelling and pronunciation".

Although copyright liberation makes for intriguing (nay brilliant) packaging it's music that you pay for when you buy this disc. And musically this album alternates between the band's best and worst sides. Tracks such as 'Why Is This Commercial?' and 'A Most Successful Formula' succeeds on their key strength - taking vocal snippets and commercial blipverts and playing them like a furious percussive show-down. But unfortunately this is interspersed with second rate country-styled songs on the same themes of corporate monsters and consumer manipulation. 'The Greatest Taste Around', 'Happy Hero' and 'Drink It Up' are the worst offenders here. But the techno style far wins out and by the closing tracks this album is as addictive as the saccharine sweet world-wide brand that it sets out to lampoon. 8/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

A Forest Mighty Black - Mellowdramatic (Compost)

This has certainly been a good year for Munich's Compost Records, with class freakbeat releases from Beanfield and the Future Sound of Jazz series. One of the bands you'll find on that series are Freiberg's A Forest Mighty Black, whose latest LP is perfect space age bachelor pad music. 'Duel With A So(u)l' and 'Tides' are typical of the band, pure Sunday afternoon funk for the beat(en) generation. It's drum and bass, but in most cases the bass comes courtesy of a jazzy double-bass sample and the drums are laid back smoky jazz room style and take second place to the thematic melodies. 'Everything' has a samba feel in places and spy-theme camp in others. A track that would be perfectly placed pouring out of some of the more switched on coffee bars around Europe.
AFMB's recent remix work for the likes of the Freakniks, Mindstore and the Far Out and 360degrees labels has poured more into their melting pot, like the analogue riff that underpins 'Duo Trippin'', a track which later ducks out into a sitar breakdown. Then there's the one-minute pure drum & bass burst of thought that is 'The 9 To 5 (Is Killing Me)'. How many of us can relate to that? In Mellowdramatic, A Forest Mighty Black serve up a rich, dark gateaux of texture and taste. And provide me with a pun I just couldn't help but put in print!
The closing tracks 'Rebirth' and 'Til The End' consolidate A Forest Mighty Black main-man Bern Kunz's vision of end-of millennium jazz. The future sound of jazz starts here. This is going to be a slightly difficult album to seek out but would be well worth the effort. 9/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

alt.frequencies - Disco Moonlight (Worm Interface)

This is the latest in a series of compilations from the Worm Interface crew, a collective which spun off from London's one and only emporium of mellow vibes, Ambient Soho. Disco Moonlight consists of 11 tracks of quite variable minimalist electronica from the likes of Tom Jenkinson (a/k/a Squarepusher), Asphere and the ludicrously-monikered Farmers Manual. But despite the name of the shop, there's little for ambient traditionalists here. In places this compilation is more reminiscent of iLL Record's recent Spunk Jazz collection, if only for the intermittent gleeful use of heavily filtered drum loops, which distort time, beats and all left-side brain activity. In fact Milky Boy from Bovinyl records does put in an appearance on Disco Moonlight, his 'Toilet Seat' includes what sound like covert tapes of a friend talking about some very intriguing behaviour with the aforementioned piece of bathroom furniture! But 'System 4v.7' is that track that most people will head straight for as it's from Squarepusher, albeit under his less well-known name (to the public, anyway) of Tom Jenkinson. It's a dark, cinematic track with the vibe of a sequel to Passengers (Howie B/Eno/U2)'s Original Soundtracks Vol. 1 album.

Also worth a listen are 'Stochast' from San Francisco's Rook Valard - space music based around a pulse of ice-cool precision - and Baraki from Japan, who is featured here as a direct result of just dropping a tape off at Ambient Soho when he was visiting England on holiday. Baraki's 'Departure' is a fully-devolved industrial clonk epic that sounds more German than Japanese. But the pinnacle of Disco Moonlight is 'Stealth' by Survivors, about whom I know little - apart from the fact that this track was featured on an award-winning advert on Kiss TV. 'Stealth' is a potent mixture of eerie orchestricks across a pounding backbeat mixed with Chill Out-era KLF ambience. Definitely the highlight of the album. 7/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Bullitnuts - Nut Roast (Pork)

Kicking in the with the fantastic hypno-therapy-inspired drum & space of 'A Sponge, Two Bricks and A Spring', this debut LP from Bullitnuts has an intimate, instantly familiar feel. In fact the title 'A Sponge, Two Bricks and A Spring' perfectly sums up the brick-busting, spring-charged, brain-mashing music which results from the drum & bass-meets-big beats fusion that has inspired so many lately.

This second album from Hull-based duo Bullitnuts is full of variation. 'Rockskool' is pure funk city streets bent-cop action thriller, 'Lizard Tooth Eye' on the other hand initially fools you with its sweet atmospheres (there's even a whistle in there!) before blowing over big with what sounds like a dark 90's take on Grace Jones' 'Pull Up To The Bumper' - all phat bass and fruity percussion. The whole project is topped off by what sounds more like a live instrument-based jam, 'Hell For Leather'. Coming a year after their acclaimed debut, 1st Of The Day (the successor to their original electronica adventures on Concrete records), Nut Roast is probably Rob Ellerby and Murray Clark's most human release to date. Certainly an album (and not forgetting the luxurious cover photography) that leaves you wanting more. 8/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Ronnie & Clyde - In Glorious Black And Blue (swim~)

Following tracks on Leaf's 'Invisible Soundtracks Volume II' compilation and appearances on Swim~ records' 'Last Hand' and 'Macro-Scopic' EPs, we finally get our hands on Ronnie & Clyde's debut CD. From spooky chilled-out basement eccentricities to glorious breakbeat and drum & bass, this is what I call a real album - not just a collection of ten tracks. It builds up, breaks down and burns with an underlying coherence throughout.

Ronnie & Clyde (a/k/a John Ross and Rob Fitzpatrick) are in a world of their own with the wooba wooba bass and dub atmospheres of 'Natural One' though to the near-junglist beats of 'Macro-Scopic'. But when the pace calms for beatless chill out sessions, the duo are on thin ice. 'Twice Removed', for example lacks the soul of highly-studied ambience, or the depth of their bass- and beat-oriented tracks. But when the drums return and are mixed up with these more atmospheric leanings, Ronnie & Clyde create a perfect harmony. And this chemical reaction makes for one of the albums highlights, 'Last Hand'.

As this album is only being released on CD, the most important tracks here are 'Natural One', 'From A Great Height' (probably the most accomplished, frontier-embracing drum & bass cut on the album) and 'Theme From A Lazy Life' (awesome science-lab jazz jungle), which are all set to appear on DJ-friendly vinyl. 7/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Akotcha - Sound Burger (Pork)

Continuing Pork's (uninterrupted?) run of pure quality, Akotcha release Sound Burger. This debut LP from the Brighton/London fusion of Jude Alfred and Russ Jones is minimal in presentation, so about them I can tell you little. What I can say is that their album merges funky bass, eerie atmospheres, trippy drum loops and laid back guitar and pours it onto the vinyl with a smooth lacquer of production.

'Sound Burger', the title track, combines all these elements and if the title sounds familiar, cast your mind back to pre-CD times when there were some weird and wonderful ways to play records. Like the little van that drove itself around the grooves and the 'Sound Burger', a hand-held wheel clamp that looked a lot better than it sounded!

But enough hi-fi trainspotting. Buy this album and skip directly to 'So Far So Good', which is the smoothest tripped-out version of trip-hop known to man. Saucy French vocals and ruffed-up beats, anyone? 'We Have The Technology' is also worth checking out. Full of subliminal melodies and perfect for either rainy Sunday afternoon listening or late night radio play. 'Gosub' and 'Entirely Synthesised' are the tracks I'll probably keep going back to. They hint at an affinity with early eighties technology (also found on Fridge's 'Ceefax' back in the spring) which thankfully doesn't carry into the actual music. 'Gosub' is actually an epic drum & breakdown finale that would fit with either a dark DJ set of electronica or stella transmissions into the unknown. Certainly an accomplished debut. 8/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Art of Noise - State Of The Art box set (China)

Six years ago Art of Noise main-man JJ Jeczalik told me that his eyes popped the first time he heard the techno tribute album The Fon Mixes. But he had to admit that some takes did offer some interesting new perspectives and one - Graham Massey (of 808 State)'s version of 'Legs' - was even true to the band's original experimental direction. A couple of years later I found myself giving Massey a lift to an 808 gig and passed on this vote of confidence. He was plainly thrilled and it occurred to me just how much mutual, unspoken respect the contemporary dance scene has for the Art of Noise. Three studio space cadets who - 15 years ago - unwittingly pioneered much of the music we groove to today.

With this release taking the count of Art of Noise compilations to double that of LPs of original material, China Records could well be accused of overkill. It's a surprise to see State Of The Art appear, with last summer's Drum & Bass Collection still warm-off-the-press. But there is a method in the madness. The three disc State Of The Art combines all three AoN remix collections (all of which will now be deleted) in one tastefully designed package - and for just the price of a single CD! Combining 1990's Youth-mixed The Ambient Collection, the 1991 techno/rave remixes The Fon Mixes and last year's Drum & Bass collection pulls together an overpowering 38 remixes. Comprehensive this box set may be, but it's certainly not complete. The 1995 12"-only Ollie J/Arkana mixes of 'Yebo!' are strangely omitted, especially as they are some of the few AoN re-interpretations to gain sizeable club exposure in recent years.

Seven years on, Youth's Ambient Collection (Disc 1) is almost a museum piece. Released at a time when chill out rooms were a fascinating novelty, it served its purpose of proving that Art of Noise were the original ambient house/art house electronica crew. As if being DJ'd into legendary nights at Shoom and Spectrum hadn't done that already. But Youth added nothing that any bedroom mixer couldn't have done with a pile of original AoN CDs and some samplers. Listening back to Disc 2 - The Fon Mixes six years on is a hilarious and sometimes dreadful task. Alongside ambience, Art of Noise also predated the techno revolution with tracks like 'Close (To The Edit)', 'Beatbox', 'Legs' and 'One Earth'. So in 1991 the rave stars of the day came up with The Fon Mixes, something that was sincerely meant as a true homage to the third most sampled act of all time (just behind Kraftwerk and James Brown!). Hidden away here is probably the best track the Prodigy have ever recorded - certainly my favourite - their interpretation of 'Instruments of Darkness'. If you've never heard this track, you have at least one good reason to buy this box set. The brilliance of the Prodigy track is balanced by probably the crudest, poorest piece of music ever released under the name of Carl Cox - his homage to the single 'Paranoimia', 'Shades of Paranoimia'.

You don't need to look back through many copies of DJ to find a review of the Drum & Bass Collection, which is in State Of The Art as Disc 3. It features remixes by Doc Scott, Dom & Roland and Lemon D. The one thing that State Of The Art and the continual reinterpretations of Art of Noise material throughout this decade proves beyond doubt is just how influential they have been on all forms of dance music. And how much respect many of today's dance artists still have for them. 8/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Sandoz - God Bless The Conspiracy (Alphaphone)

From the first few seconds of track one, you can sense that God Bless The Conspiracy is important. The sounds, the production. This is not self-indulgent or overly serious, but an album of ominous, weighty consequence. But what else would you expect from Richard H. Kirk (for it is he!), the man behind the mask of Sandoz and a million other pseudonyms and labels?

This is Kirk's fifth album as Sandoz and appears on his own label, Alphaphone. It continues a career that started off as a founding half of the highly-influential Cabaret Voltaire back in 1974 and later spanned dozens of albums (released under at least five different solo monikers!). Along the way he has worked with the likes of Marshall Jefferson, Francois Kevorkian and Ministry and in recent months even found time to turn in a blindin' remix of Sneaker Pimps' '6 Underground'.

This new album is a real mixture of styles - but is so obviously conceived from one highly focused mind, that all tracks blend into one powerful blast. From the industrial film soundtrack of 'Lights In The Sky' to the chemical funk-meets-Starsky & Hutch themes of 'Demonology' to the patter of garage beats on 'Louisiana'. One of the most interesting cuts is 'Blow (This Mother Up)', a ruffed-up drive through a '90s urban jungle of archived jazz samples and breaks. The album seems to build up throughout every track to the grand finale - 'The Moon Rises'. If Chris Carter directed the next James Bond film and they needed a street active soundtrack, this would be a match made in heaven. And as if to perfectly illustrate the conspiracy theme of the album's title, found sounds and samples are sprinkled throughout each track like suggestive subliminal messages. Amazing. 9/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Various - Virtual DJ: Underground Garage (Breakdown)

The second in the series of Virtual DJ compilations offers exactly the same interface as before, but this time the content is pure garage. "Speed garage" tracks are included to either listen to on a standard CD-player or to plug into your computer to mix, scratch and edit to your heart's content. But the quality of the compilation has not been compromised with the inclusion of the CD-Rom element - all twelve tracks are well worth checking out. Stand-outs come from Gant - 'All Night Long', A Baffled Republic - 'Bad Boys' and Federation X - 'Odyssey One'. In fact the best thing about these compilations is that they are from an established English label. So many similar CD-Rom releases have come straight out of US computer corporations who put little emphasis on quality music and over-hype the interactive content. The virtual DJ decks are just as fun as before, even if I found garage a little harder to mix than the more dynamically varied drum & bass set. But, hey, that's what these CDs are for - they let you play around as a DJ (in an impressively life-like way), without the expense of buying a dozen 12"s, the decks and all the hardware.

But viewing the other interactive elements a second time began to drag. Elsewhere in the 'virtual bedroom', things are less interesting. The 'Interactive TV' is merely a high-tech way to entice you into watching full-screen video of adverts for other Breakdown compilations and the merchandise cupboard is an equally cheeky sales attempt for their range of clothes. There's a daft (but probably cool) hoop-shooting basketball game in one corner that I didn't have the patience to figure out and the quality of the interactive discography is poor - featuring only low-definition scans of other album covers.

In recent years CD-Rom content has been largely overtaken by the World Wide Web. Cool interactive music software that you used to have to buy and install from CD is now increasing plentiful - and free - on the Internet. But it will be some time until there's the Java skills and bandwidth to replicate Virtual DJ on the WWW. Until then, this is probably the best reason for any bedroom DJ to get hold of a CD-Rom-equipped computer. album: 6/10 interaction: 9/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Various - Virtual DJ: Drum N' Bass (Breakdown)

This is no ordinary compilation! Virtual DJ is a new series from Breakdown Records that includes an interactive CD-Rom element as well as the standard audio tracks. But the album is still open to anyone - you can play it on a standard hi-fi or, if you have a CD-Rom-equipped computer (Apple Mac or PC), then you can plug in and interact. On the music side, there are 12 tracks of above-average drum & bass. Notable appearances coming from DJ Red, Aphrodite and Swift. But when you plug this album into your computer you get a whole new dimension. The screen fills with a the view of one wall of a 'virtual bedroom'. Scroll left, right, up and down to look around. You'll find little animations, games and - tucked away in the corner - a pair of decks. It's this Virtual DJ booth that's the star of the show. Although a little daunting at first (there's no on-screen instructions), the virtual mixing process couldn't be more intuitive. Click the record box to browse the tracks on the album. Find one you like and drag it onto the first turntable. Do the same with the other deck and then set them both spinning. Mix between the two and - with some nifty mouse action - you can even even start scratching!

It may sound like a gimmick, and at this stage of it's development it is, but I'd like to see this interactive element becoming standard across most dance compilations. The mixing is surprisingly lifelike, having an easy-to-adjust BPM control helps a lot. In fact Virtual DJ is almost as addictive as real life - it's far too easy to lose an hour or two perfecting a mix on the screen! But it's the quality of the tracks on the compilation, and the sheer brilliance of the added bonus of the Virtual DJ session that makes this stand out. More than any other compilation, you know that the tracks have been chosen with the DJ in mind. Aphrodite's 'Dub Moods' is a brilliant laid back, pulse-driven track. Shy FX's 'Mad Apache' is full of mixable breaks and fills and Dream Team's 'Star Wars' has to be heard to be believed. In other words, plenty of variation for the first stars of the virtual DJ arena to play with. album: 7/10 interaction: 10/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Baby Mammoth - One...Two...Freak (Pork)

If Baby Mammoth are one thing for sure - then they're prolific. Having signed to Pork in 1996, this is their third album - and second to be released this year! The duo of Mark Blissenden and Andrew Burdall have already cooked up phat beats, spun drum & bass off into new directions and got everyone thinking about what they're listening to. So what next?

Anything is possible. Each track here is a superbly polished example of it how dance music really can straddle both sitting down and standing up-type activities, if it's done right. Take track 3, 'Additive', for example. This has massive club potential. And at the same time would get your lounge jumpin' on a Monday night. Elsewhere there's 'Luna Park', an aptly titled sound-scape that pits soothing chorused guitar chords and harp-like synth pads against a scat industrial backbeat. This mixes into 'For Dear Life', which takes a club friendly almost-garage beat, soothing atmospheric washes and overlays a woman recounting an O.O.B.E, or out-of-body experience. A cathartic track if every there was one.

Other tracks continue the journey of drum & bass beats into vast oceans of relatively uncharted territory. How can drum beats be fast and furious, but soft and warm at the same time? Answer - Baby Mammoth pieces like 'Zen Butchers' and 'Sound in your Mouth'.

Baby Mammoth is the most apt name for this band; at the moment friendly, cute and compact, but inevitably destined to become ominously, overpoweringly huge. 7/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Y-Ton-G - Klangspiegel (Raum 312)

In the midnight hour in the sound laboratories of Hamburg, you'll hear the strains of Raum 312. Their fourth release is by Y-Ton-G, what seems to be a one-man performance art spectacle that takes natural found sounds and sources and pushes them through a production process in search of the next level of ambient music. How can you not be even slightly curious of an album that states on the cover: "The music on this CD is made with stones, metal and wood. When these natural materials are touched they begin to vibrate immediately."... And you know he's not joking when you hear the finished result. Even more so when - believe it or not - you begin to recognise the musical feel of the stone, metal and wood vibrations. Yes, this album could sound very familiar to anyone that's visited crypts, wandered cathedral cloisters or - I would imagine - pot-holed through vast underground lakes and caverns! Y-Ton-G takes the natural atmospherics of the very life around us and places them on disc in away that field recordings never could. But what has all this got to do with dance music? Or should I really have to ask and answer that question? Truth is, if it hadn't been for the acid/house explosion ten years ago and all the splintered art-forms that emerged thereafter, an album as innovative as this could probably never have been released. 7/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine

Mouse On Mars – Autoditacker (Too Pure)

Bouncy and poppy, but with a full quota of weirdness always on hand, this is the first Mouse On Mars album since 1995's acclaimed 'Laora Tahiti'. But since their last LP there has been collaborations with Wolfgang Flur from Kraftwerk and Stereolab, both of which have bought a summer freshness to their sound. Mouse On Mars provide perfect chilled sounds for the moment, unbeatable in pure trippy melodies and with a refreshing timbre that is missing from the harsher, darker side of techno and dreamed-up house. 'Sui Shop' and 'Juju' take quirky to new heights and it's not long before a funky Mouse On Mars-style spin on drum & bass is introduced in 'Twift Shoeblade'. But nothing's heavy going about this album - any or all of the tracks could easily be used as the soundtrack to a French cosmetics advert of your choice. They may be German, but this is almost certainly the sort of music that Jean Michel Jarre would be making, if he hadn't lost the plot after his original 1970s debut. Stand-out tracks include 'Scat', 'Schnick Schnack Melt Made' and 'X-Files' (this title being probably the only herd-following element on the album). Forget DJ Dado, Mouse On Mars' 'X-Files' rivets a wicked, tiny beat-up drum & bass loop onto some liquid keyboard pads. When the melodies drop (in tracks such as 'Radio' and 'Maggots Hell Wings') it leaves a confusing set of beats and pulses - all set to disorientate the listener and leave them wanting more. And as a result, Autoditacker is definitely one of the freshest and most original albums of this year. 9/10

Zion Train - Singled Out/Alive (China)

This is a must for anyone that's been fascinated, tempted or even just a little intrigued by Zion Train's much-publicised adventures in multimedia and '90s dubscapes. Zion Train's sixth album release is a double, CD-only set pairing a singles-so-far compilation (Single Minded) with their debut live set (Alive). Rather than dub or earth-rooted dance, Single Minded swerves dangerously into Europop territory thanks to production from the Rapino Brothers. Original Zion classics like 'Dance of Life' are given a new clarity, or are commercial dance O.D., depending on how you look at it.

But Single Minded does gather - for the first time on CD - underground classics such as 'Follow Like Wolves' and 'Hovercraft', both thought to have been lost to promo obscurity some years ago. Also included is 'Stand Up And Fight', one of the tracks which landed them on the Radio 1 play list for the first time last year, and the new single, 'Do Anything You Want To'. Alive on the other hand, was taped at Zion Train's Bass Odyssey event at The Rocket last December, as trailed on DJ's internet page back in issue 180. This is a sweaty mix of pounding dub and - compared to the sweetness of Single Minded - all traces of chill have been removed for heads-down hedonism. In the live setting the band give every track their all, even last years smooth and soulful single 'Rise' is given the full-on gabba treatment!

Combining both sides of the Zion Train coin is a great "all you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask" introduction to the band and their story so far, even if presenting snapshots of their way-of-life underground live shows with the some sugary sweet Europop singles does leave you with more questions than answers... 8/10