Night Works
English DJs Layo Paskin and Matthew "Bushwacka!" Benjamin--collectively, Layo & Bushwacka!--put London nightclub The End on the map with their unhinged yet seamless mash-ups of house, techno, trance, and nutty samples. As expected, their second record,Night Works, is a richly detailed quilt of dance and trance suites gussied up with snippets ofJ.J. CaleandNina Simone, among others. But what really propelsNight Worksis its weirdly organic feel--weird because we're talking high-fidelity DJing here. And yet the ride is so smooth it's as if the pair were pushing paint around a canvas, rather than painstakingly building a sonic structure out of errant parts. Dance music bearing fingerprints is more rare than enthusiasts might like to admit, but just a few songs intoNight Music, a distinct personality emerges. "We Meet at Last" begins with a light shower of synth over a simple kick-drum beat before hurtling shoulders-first into a spastic fit of chanted "da-das" and croaking strings. Meanwhile, "Love Story" starts off like a sci-fi soundtrack before melting into a keyboard-driven corker that gains momentum from layers of snappy drums and gurgling sound effects. Destined to flip the switch at parties worldwide.--Kim Hughes