Electronica

The latest releases reviewed.

SARSPARILLA Karahee Alphabet Set ***

If you're looking for sounds to score a road movie about kids lost in the badlands of Crumlin, you've come to the right place. Dublin producer Damien Lynch has a hankering to emulate his favourite soundtrack composers by putting blood and guts in the music. Fellow Dublin dwellers Deep Burial have used similar justifications for annexing the best of John Carpenter's sonic machinations. But Lynch draws his inspiration from the raw end of the early Warp spectrum and hip-hop's misty-eyed electro flings. All in all, he has a fine handle on melodies. Each track here is drenched in the stickiest of hooks and grooves. Sometimes, as on the perfectly pitched Gigi go Deas, it's the subtle nature of Lynch's arrangements and instrumentation that will have you humming. He can also do a fine line in menace, as shown by the damnation splashed throughout the bewitching drag of Crumlin Thunder. www.myspace. com/sarsparilla music JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Crumlin Thunder, Gigi go Deas