Beaucoup Fish
A stunning album of smart, dance-pop craft,Beaucoup Fishblends stomping beats and meandering, binary dream worlds into a cohesive and heavenly revelation. It's another work filled with Karl Hyde's singsong talk-vocals ("Push Downstairs") floating over DJ Darren Emerson's sinewy, house-style rave-ups ("King of Snake"), a sound that has distinguished them since 1993'sDubnobasswithmyheadman. OnBeaucoup Fish, however, that sound slips around tracks that do more than patiently await the next thick coat of rhythm, building simple songs into a digitized, epic whole. There are eruptions of ecstatic melody on songs such as "Jumbo," while jerky dance tracks such as "Bruce Lee" open whole new avenues for bursting layers of rhythmic ambience. Underworld are doomed to be haunted forever by "Born Slippy" (popularized via theTrainspottingsoundtrack), the world's first international rave anthem, yetBeaucoup Fishgoes well beyond such timely phenomena, and works instead to free electronic music from its computer-age constraints.--Matthew Cooke