CD CHOICE:The Count & Sinden ****
Mega Mega MegaDomino ****
Maybe this is the future of big-room dance music. While the old reliables are still very much in business – the old-school acts who first came to the fore a decade ago, such as the Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Basement Jaxx and Faithless, are still enjoying big paydays on the festival circuit and occasionally throwing out decent new albums – there has been a shortage of new guns coming through. We’ve had a couple of decent shots in the dark, but, for anyone eyeing the sector, nothing to warrant a long-term punt .
Enter Joshua Harvey and Graeme Sinden, a pair of anonymous Essex blokes you’d stroll by on the street without giving a second glance. On record, though, there’s nothing anonymous about Harvey and Sinden. An earlier run of singles and remixes established their clubland credentials, but it’s a debut album every jot as mega as the title which will really make folks sit up and pay attention.
A frantic, exuberant, giddy, shapeshifting blend of hooting and hollering, Mega Mega Megais not afraid to kick out the jams with one style when it can do the same thing with half a dozen. While there are precedents for what C&S are doing (Basement Jaxx's Brixton boogie being one example), there's a bracing, infectious freshness to their eclecticism – the duo and their cast of collaborators (including the brilliantly named Coolio Iglesias and rising dubstep star Katy B) jump and shout all over the shop.
Indeed, the biggest surprise here involves some unlikely collaborators. Any album that can transform indie landfill no-marks Mystery Jets into shimmering dancefloor demons, as on the colossal After Dark, is definitely worth exploring. But that's not all: there's also the high- stepping Hold Mewith Katy B, the Vicks rub of Elephant 1234and the chophouse surge on Do You Really Want It. One of the most entertaining romps of the season. See myspace.com/ countandsinden
Download tracks: After Dark, Hold Me, Do You Really Want It
