Controlling your allegiance

Not Japanese. Not exactly popstars. Definitely awesome.

Jaws in space: That was the simple description for Ridley Scott's Alien. Die Hard on a bus: Speed in a nutshell. Hollywood movie pitches have evolved shorthand ways of describing things that leave you in no doubt that they're going to be awesome. And for the Japanese Popstars that description would be: Irish Chemical Brothers.

Joyfully noisy beats? Check. Acid squelches? Check. Eclectic sounds? Check. Great guest vocalists? Knack for writing a great song? Amazing live? Check. Check. Check. The Japanese Popstars are every bit as good as The Chems, yet the chaps from the emerald isle are mystifyingly relatively unknown by comparison in the mainstream.

Controlling your allegiance is their second album and it's a belter from the off. 'Let go' with Green Velvet sets the mood, filtered male and female voices giving the order '...just relax and let go' over an incessant driving beat before shimmering bleeps and squelches are unleashed. Next up is 'Catapult' another propulsive drumbeat builds and builds, like a catapult being pulled taught, before releasing into a driving progressive house number with ravey keyboard stabs reminiscent of early Underworld. Track three is a real stand out, 'Song for Lisa' with beats and shimmering sounds that swell and fade beneath a stunning vocal from Irish singer Lisa Hannigan.



And so it goes, the album ebbing and flowing to the tune of bleeps and bass, filtered sounds, drum claps and effervescent fizzing chords. It's like the Chems decided to have a rave round at Orbital's place, invited Junkie XL and nicked Underworld's gear to do it with. There are hints of electro, such as 'Take Forever' featuring The Cure's Robert Smith on vocals. And more downbeat numbers like the sultry 'Fight the night' acting as a brief respite from the big dancefloor weapons. 'Destroy' features a sinister snare and spoken word vocal from Jon Spencer (of the Blues Explosion) that builds in menace to total destruction.



'Without Sound' is a real misnomer, a gorgeous late night house number rich in sonic beauty, while penultimate track 'Falcon Punch' packs a hit truly worthy of its name. Acid squelches reappear, 808s reverberate from ear to ear, while a robotic voice issues commands only a computer could understand, all backed by a hard 4/4 beat. Closer 'Joshua' is a shiny blast of electro house with vocals from Tom Smith of The Editors, an elegant full stop to an album that can be described in even fewer words than a Hollywood movie pitch: aural perfection.

Enpyschedelia electronica

Would it be too cheesy to say this album is a hoot?

If there's one thing I love, it's a good remix. Electronic music is filled with re-interpretations of classic tracks, some from the same genre, some from wildly different ones. 'Reanimations' by Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve is a bit of both. But before I talk about the remixes, it's worth mentioning about the duo behind them. Erol Alkan is a well-known DJ and producer in his own right, but for BTWS (it's easier than typing it out over and over again) he's joined by electronic music royalty in the shape of Richard Norris from The Grid (don't worry if you've never heard of them, one of their albums will be on here shortly, I promise). For me, that's a pretty outstanding combination. And the results are equally outstanding.

Unusually for electronic remixes, the inspiration for each of these 'reanimations' is the past not the future. 60s psychedelia to be precise. The first track sets out the statement of intent. BTWS transform 'Battlescars' by The Chemical Brothers into a smoky haze of sitar and bongos. It shouldn't work but it does, eclipsing the brilliant original in my opinion. Another highlight is the reverb heavy masterpiece reworking of 'Roscoe' from indie band Midlake. Laid back syncopation (wicked cymbals man) backwards guitars bring the vocals back from the future to the decade of peace and love.


Goldfrapp's 'Happiness' is made even hazier than the hippy original, as is Findlay Brown's 'Losing The Will To Survive', while The Real Ones' 'Outlaw' is gloriously trippy with more flashes of sitar, jangly guitars, jingly pianos and marching band drums. This is music for hazy sunny days, for relaxing in the park as the sun glitters through the trees.

Badly Drawn Boy, Simian Mobile Disco and Franz Ferdinand all get the Wizard's remix treatment too, taking great originals and, if anything, making them even more original.

Remixes are a great way of seeing someone else's intrepretation of a track. In electronica it can also be a way of discovering a new talent through the transformation of the existing one.

But 'Reanimations' is much more than just a collection of remixes, it feels like a coherent artist album, a sonic story. Just one that uses snippets of someone else's words.