The Powerpuff Girls: The City of Soundsville
Should Bubbles, Buttercup, and Blossom someday retire from Townsville, they could keep on breaking bad and kickin' booty in clubland. The proof's inThe City of Soundsville: Music from The Powerpuff Girls, which swirls techno beats around a launch pad of loopy electronica. Coolest of all aboutSoundsvilleis its concept: Each of its 17 tracks, save the opening title song and exit numbers "Hearts and Stars" and "Super Secret City of Soundsville Song," serves as thumbnails for a component or character from the show--thus the boingy, waterlogged sounds of "Amoeba Boys"; the faux-dramatic tones of  "Him"; the raunch of "Gangreen Gang," where flatulence hits the dancefloor; and the funky thump of "Boogie Man." Also staking out a slice of the soundscape are Mojo Jojo, whose aura of doom races along to a booming backbeat; Pokey Oaks, making even a techno tune dawdle; Mayor, who declares that techno music isit, and seizes the helm; Fuzzy Lumpkins, presiding over a pulsing twang number; Professor, who blasts the beat into overdrive as his hypothesis heats up; and Princess, demanding we talk to the hand while a "Pump Up the Volume"-ish number whips Daddy Warbucks's daughter into a techno tantrum. The girls get an individual go at carving out their crime-fighting styles in song, too: Blossom devises a heart-pounding tactical plan; Buttercup kicks up the amps and gets to smashing and crashing; and Bubbles busts a tinkly, aerobics-instructor-like move.Soundsvilleboils down to a bunch of loops, blips, and beats with quacky cartoon life breathed into them, but it's brilliant--a real bounds-of-reality buster. Sample it when crabbiness creeps in, and the day is saved.--Tammy La Gorce