Cool and deadly

The best soundtrack to a film never made

Punisher, Blade, We Took Pelham. Nope they're not names of films (okay, actually they are), they're the names of some of the tracks on Deadly Avenger's debut album from 2002, 'Deep Red'. Very much inspired by Hollywood's finest movies with a B (there's even a sample from The Crow in there somewhere), Deep Red is the finest soundtrack to a film never made.

You can picture the scenes each piece conjures up. 'We Took Pelham' is the opening salvo, introducing the titles and setting the scene. Think a gang 'tooling up' for one last big job, or the hero down but not out seeking redemption. It's unashamedly epic. 'Punisher' follows after a quick skit, raising the tempo once more. This is a manic car chase, a scramble for freedom, fleeing the authorities in the nick of time. And on it goes... 'The Quest part 1' takes it down a notch, a reflective moment for the audience to catch their breath before 'Blade' takes things down an oriental breakbeat path (training for the end battle perhaps?).

'Day One' takes a detour to a downtown bar, as funky and retro as a pimpin' police informant. 'Love Sounds' is the albums love scene, though it's definitely one that cuts to the moonlight shot before any naughtiness happens. The movie moods continue, from action to pause, cool to deadly as we build towards the big crescendo, the innocuously titled but truly epic 'Outro'. Without wanting to spoil the ending, I'm pretty sure the good guys win.

Then the credits roll and the lights go on. Just remember to give your 3D glasses back on the way out.

Fingas of fun

An album cover as mad as its contents...

Fingathing were a fenomenon (sorry) I discovered through the now defunct Manchester instrumental hip hop label Grand Central. I'd been a fan of the label's owners Rae & Christian since their debut 'Northern Sulphuric Soul' (check it out, it's ace...) and decided to look at some of their contemporaries too. Fingathing stood out for a number of reasons. One, the dynamic duo are made up of Sneaky, a classically trained Double Bass player, and DJ Peter Parker (really, really hope it's his real name). Decks and Double Bass are not the most obvious pairing but believe me it works. And two, their album artwork (created by artist Chris Drury) is some of the most random I've ever seen. Hands that are also wrestlers, in a comic book stylee, how could I resist?

Thing is, there's more to this dynamic duo than just pure quirk. Their music, filled with crazy film and TV samples, Double Bass noodlings and hip hop beats just can't help but make you smile. It's music with a sense of humour, but also a sense of deep cool. This is epitomised by one of the album's stand out tracks, 'Haze'. It begins with the sample: "Mmm, time to lay down some serious sound..." before a bluesy organ riff kicks in and some kicking bass. Vinyl crackles, scratches and laidback guitar licks then follow, creating a smoky mood every bit as thick and cloudy as the title suggests.

Other epic pieces on this 22 track long player include the sample laden 'Ogre', made even heavier with big drop beats, scratching and plenty of bass of the double variety. 'Criminal Robots' is another turntable-tastic number, with fun samples dialogue from the film War Games adding an extra layer of wit to proceedings before the beats and scratching kick in. 'Once upon a time in the East' is a more laid-back affair, with a hint of high plains drifter to it before finishing with a sample from a western that leads beautifully into the album's title track: 'Superhero Music'. "Think clearer, Run faster, jump higher and hit harder than anyone alive!" goes just one of the scratched in samples in this epic hero of a tune.

Maybe it's having Spiderman's alter ego's name, or the bonkers comic book hand wrestlers, but Superhero Music is a fingathing like no other.

Fighting crime has never sounded cooler.

Start a new life

A new life in sound...

There is electronic music designed to move your feet. That sways the hips and lures you on to the dancefloor. In fact in most cases they even call it 'dance'. Then there is the kind that gets your head nodding instead. Composed to help you through the post-club comedown, more Sunday morning than Saturday night. Start a new life by Slacker is the latter; a blissfully laid-back album that can also be surprisingly funky when it wants to be.

It's one of those wonderful long players that deserves to be far better-known than it is, with tracks destined to end up in mobile phone adverts (in fact I'm pretty sure one did) or soundtracking quirky BBC documentaries rather than troubling the charts. A great shame, made more so by the fact that it was the last album made by Shem McCauley before he died in 2012.

Shem actually started out producing the foot-moving variety of electronica, both as Slacker ('Scared' was a storming mid-nineties dance monster) and as Ramp. Produced in Thailand, after an extended break from music, this album has a chilled-ness that can only come from spending time in a place with lots of beaches and lots of sunshine.

Think balearic but with a touch of asian spice: Big slow drums crash, trippy snippets of dialogue waft in and out, haunting, otherworldly tribal chants chip in occasionally and strange sounds resonate back and forth from speaker to speaker. It's awesome stuff. The track names speak volumes - 'A million dreams', 'Help me here', 'See the world', 'Come back home' - it's like a peaceful journey through the mind of a man who has explored the realms of electronica and found a great place to begin again. To start a new life, I guess...

RIP Shem, you and your music will be missed.