ELECTRONICA

Latest CD releases reviewed

THIEVERY CORPORATION
The Outernational Sound Eighteenth Street Lounge Music
***

Thievery Corporation's ceaseless gallivanting with boxes of records from their Washington, DC base has fine-tuned their take on "outernational", that point where funky, world, soulful and beaty sounds come together. The duo's own releases have always crafted a certain laidback departure lounge mood, so there are few surprises with the 20 tunes selected for this mix. Usual suspects producing the usual boom tunes aside, TC tip the fedora to the nu-house spinning of Troublemakers, Block 16 and Crazy Penis, the super-fried funk of Breakestra and eclectic post-modern easy-listening dishes from the Karminksky Experience and the Alan Lorber Orchestra. Their own contributions, albeit in remixed and rearranged form, stand tall too - both Richest Man in Babylon and Lagos Communique are fine summations of this new definition of sound. www.eslmusic.com - Jim Carroll

MYLO
Destroy Rock & Roll Breastfed
***

What the world needs now are tunes that recycle Kim Carne's Bette Davis Eyes, so the world should be delighted with what Isle of Skye party boffin Myles McInnes has done. That track In My Arms is one of many reasons why Destroy Rock & Roll comes with a pep in its step. Jackknifing all manner of styles and sounds, McInnes's computer-guided, sunnyside beats pack quite a punch and, given that the world loves the kitsch-clatter of Scissor Sisters as much as it loves records sampling Bette Davis Eyes, Mylo's rock & roll destruction may well take him further. While the album is limited in places (attempts to veer away from the electroclash ditch have him crashing again and again into a 1980s electro-pop wall), there is enough grit and glam to overcome even that. www.breastfed.tv - Jim Carroll