Dr Octagon: "Ecologyst"

Mo Wax/Bulk, MWO46CD (68 mins) Dial-a-track code: 1201

Beck:"O-De-Lay"

Geffen, GED4538 (55 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1311

An action packed Disc Drive, with two hip hop albums from the far side of leftfield, two home grown CDs and a wonderful album from The Aloof up for review. Both Dr Octagon and Beck inhabit hip hop's twilight zone, creating sounds and tracks which are as far removed from the traditional hip hop lexicon as it is possible to get. Dr Octagon fits more easily into the hip hope game - he was, after all, an Ultramagnetic MC though he was known back then as Kool Keith.

Ecologyst is a concept album involving ER style operations and surreal paging messages with Dr Octagon dropping words of wisdom in a Gil Scott Heron fashion on top. Tracks like Earth People and 3000 are all the better for their word strewn intensity and George Clinton funky stomp. For all his obsessions with aliens, gamma rays and psycho medics, Dr Octagon still pulls off a rare treat.

Beck, on the other hand, continues on from where his last album, Mel/ow Gold, left off, drawling and slacking through some dusted grooves and madcap lyrics. Produced with the legendary Dust Brothers, O-De-Lay has the same rambling, ramshackle feel of their infamous Beastie Boys collaboration Paul's Boutique. Tracks like Electric Music In The Summer People and Novacaine twist and turn splendidly with the aid of everything from random radio signals to modem beeps and bleeps.

Various Artists: "Celebrate The Life" Celt Tribe, CT001 (70 mins)

Dial a track code: 1421

Hyberborea:"Serpentine"

Starc, SCD496 (58 mins)

Dial a track code: 1531

We're now almost at the stage where there's a new Irish dance album ready for review every month, with acts encountered at a demo stage or in a live setting finding their way around to recording and releasing albums. With Decal, 4th Dimension and Sound Crowd already having gone the long playing route, we expect Flux, Liquid Wheel and Gigantor to join them there soon.

Celebrete The Life is a compilation of Dublin acts and DJs with some familiar names (Bumble, Rob Rowland and MSD) and some relative newcomers. Despite the highly naff Celtic imagery and design throughout the collection contains some interesting tracks. Pick of the bunch are The Wilde Oscars Love Song (folk implosion with some beaty drops), Rob Rowland's full on trance epic MFN and the splendid Web from Beat Surfer. As an indication of the current state of the capital city's dance scene, it's a fine if slightly one dimensional snapshot. Which is where the Corkbased Hypetorea come into focus. With lyrics as Gaeilge throughout and some distinctly folksy airs among the trance and ambient soundscapes, Serpentine is, if nothing else, the first dance album which could comfortably make the cut at Club Conradh na Gaeilge. Aside from the Gaeilge angle, there's little here to get excited about. Hyberborea's sound is quite dated, relying on house beats from four and five years ago, with only the moody closing instrumental Priest's Cove and the Greg Dowling and Shane Johnson mixes of Conlach showing any spark.

The Aloof: "Sinking"

EastWest, 0630-145842 (72 mins)

Dial-a-track code: 1641

If The Aloof's first album, Cover The Crime, was a classic in terms of dubby-punky-finky-techno workouts, Sinking is the motorship. A riot of sun kissed dub, punky techno and variations on a tough but melodic theme, there's a variety of delights to be found between its grooves. Given the CVs and experience of The Aloof crew members (from long time DJ Dean Thatcher to Sabres Of Paradise cohorts Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns), this should come as no surprise. The hypnotic spin of Stuck On The Shelf sets the tone for much of what is to follow. There's an ace cinematic wash to some of the album's textures: Hot Knives At Lunchtime could have fitted with ease on to the Trainspotting soundtrack, while The Last Stand is as epic and grandstand as they come. Beyond the instrumentals, though, it's Ricky Barrow's lyrics and voice which pull you into the heart of the album. Downbeat songs about relationships gone wrong have never sounded so cool.

Jim Carroll