Howie B: "Turn The Dark Off" (Polydor) Put simply, there's nothing here to attract any U2 fan. Turn The Dark Off is adventurous, mischievous, enthusiastic, innovative and exciting, everything Pop threatened to be but could never have come close to matching in a million years. While U2 talk of taking chances, their fifth member, sonic scientist and freestyle DJ, the incomparable Howie Bernstein, simply keeps his mouth shut and lets the beats do the talking. As with his Pussyfoot label and last year's evocative Music For Babies album, Howie B knows exactly what he is doing even if the rest of us sometimes wonder what the hell is going on. Like Take Your Partner By The Hand. Over a seven minute Cooder-ish symphony with sunken beats, The Band's Robbie Robertson calls the shots like Tom Waits holding a smoking shotgun. Howie B and Robbie Robertson? It's all about connections, and the canny Mr B would appear to know how to get from A to B via X, Y and Z. In terms of beats, tracks like Angels Go Bald Too and Butt Meat are grooves from another planet, tossing and turning wonderfully awkward effects and sounds into the most excellent of dance-floor grooves. Sore Brown Eyes and Hopscotch contain just as many warped ingredients yet still glide forth all sweetness and light. Turn The Dark Off is probably the coolest post-modern thing in your local record store right now.