Rhythm & Stealth
Neil Barnes and Paul Daley, the Leftfield masterminds behind 1995's sumptuous dance stewLeftism, have gone one better withRhythm and Stealth. A little darker than its predecessor, the long-awaited sophomore effort clearly ranks with dance music's most versatile and human albums, ranging from big blocking dance-floor beats to waves of ambient melancholy, all framed bewitchingly as actual songs. Kicking in hard with the sub-thumping hip-hop trip of "Dusted" and uppercutting it with a spacey "Phat Planet", the momentum is maintained by the looping pyscho-techno mantra of "Double Flash." It is "El Cid," all sleepy, warm, sunny Sunday mornings, that offers the first hint of the richer personality to come. And while "Afrika Shox" rattles cages and "Swords" is undeniably addictive, the lush mystery of "Reno" best personifies the beauty and brilliance of this album. The song encompasses the aura of Nusrat Fatah Ali Kahn with an enormous, beautiful bottom end and engaging waves of samplers used like strings.Rhythm and Stealthis a unique entity, the best of electronic sound, with an organic, real heart pumping away inside.--Steffan Chirazi