Dave Clarke "Archive One"
Bush/Deconstruction, 74321 32817 3, (56 mins)
Dial a track code 1531
This debut album is something of a treat because Dave Clarke refuses to do what is expected of him. As dance floor detonators go, you cannot get better than his three Red EPs thumping and thrilling full on tech no with nods and winks to Detroit, Chicago and any other centre of excellence you care to mention. However, unless you merely want a collection of extended movers and shakers, an album needs more thought, more variety, more colours than black, white and, indeed, red.
Archive one effortlessly combines all manner of sounds from disco (the giddy chimes of Woki) to hip hop (the manic Bomb Squad style No One's Driving) and gorgeous electro hop (the filmic loops of Miles Away). In an album context, it works because Clarke invests each track with enthusiasm and determination, never relying on a hackneyed style when a new twist will suffice. On the other side of the tracks, Southside and the classic Wisdom To The Wise are as crunchy and powerful as you would expect from a DJ who provides full metal rackets in clubs around the globe. The soundtrack for the next millennium.
Billie Ray Martin "Deadline For My Memories
Magnet, 0630 12180 2, (64 mins) Dial a track code. 1641
Billie Ray Martin's debut solo album on the other hand already sounds dated. While the hands in the air Top 10 handbag anthems are present and correct, none of the cool and pristine arrangements which made her collaboration with Spooky on Four Ambient Tales such a left field treasure is to be found here. Instead, as the surplus of slurpy ballads would indicate, Billie Ray Martin is aiming for diva status but with Celine Dion as her inspiration rather than someone like Bjork.
BRM's main problem is that there's an over supply of female singer song writer types in the pop world and so to provide value for money, something has to be done. In her case, the slurpy ballads are dipped in a selection of anonymous house beats to keep the dance floor on its feet. While this works on Your Loving Arms and on the wonderful sweep of Running Around Town the rest of the album falls between two stools. Wordy ballads can produce wonderful dance tunes (Everything But The Girl's Thing for example) but the formula is too obvious here and ends in the confusing but aptly titled mess that is Big Tears & Make Up
Various Artists. Ocean Of Sound Virgin, Ambt 10, (148 mins, 2 CDs) Dial a track code 1751
A collection of tracks to accompany noted music commentator David Toop's book of the same name, Ocean Of Sound is the strangest compilation you will come across all year. Released on Virgin's Ambient offshoot and following on from their brilliant ambient for beginners series, this double album is a musicologist's dream, delving into sound effects and genres which have little in common at first glanced but Toop's inquisitive gaze.
With everything from Miles Davis and African Head charge to recordings of bowler monkeys and Buddhist monks, this could never be mistaken for The Hit Zone Volume Three. As Toop remarks in the sleeve notes, musicians became "virtual travellers by incorporating noise, the sounds of everyday objects, electronics and environmental sounds" into their work. Thus King Tub by's eerie dubs, Herbie Hancock's psychedelic jazz and the Aphex Twin's highly individual soundtracks share traits as they jump across time zones and genres. An enthralling collection.
Various Artists "La Haine
Musiques Inspire's Du Film"
De label, 7243 8 40478 2 5 (53 mins) Dial a track code 1861
A compilation of French hip hop inspired by Mathieu Kassovitz's vibrant film about life in the banlieue, there's a varied and vigorous style at play on this album. For many, French hi ho means MC Solaar and while he's present (the suitably smooth grooves of Comme Dans Un Film) there are others to check out and ad mire. Ministere Amer's Sacrifice Des Poulets is a rousing hardcore blast while Le Vent Tourne from Sens Unik owes much to Cypress Hill and The Clash's Guns Of Brixton. Like La Yellow 357, the other French hip hop compilation in circulation at present and even A New Diocese, the recently released Irish hip hop EP, it's proof that hip hop is now more than ever a universal language.
