Chab, aka Moogwai, aka Star, aka Francios Chabloz, has been on the scene for a while (anyone with that many aliases has to have done a few parties), but fans of this Italian-born producer and composer's work with Dave Davis and DJ Nukem are in for a pleasant surprise with this new full-length mix of radio-friendly singles, mid-tempo grooves and exotic instrumentals (We'd expect nothing less under the guidance of legendary executive co-producer Satoshi Tomiie).
From the pinging synths that open the album's first track "You and Me" to the retro-sounding riffs of the albums tenth and final song "1987," Mssr Chabloz weaves the usual elements of danceable electronica together in an arfful blend that shifts gears in both directions and never, ever stops. This is literally true, as each song fades into the next, so that unless your staring at stereo, you don't notice when "You and Me"' becomes "Closer To Me" but you will definitely notice JD Davis' vocals and his return on "Monster" after the kicking beat of "Sunrise." In fact, you may notice them a bit too much as they almost seem a bit strained at times, but they're pretty catchy for all that. There's no vocal credit for the next track "Lover" so that must be Chab lamenting over the guitars and squonking synths. (If people didn't ever use new words, we'd all still be grunting, get over it.) The album's sixth track is trickily titled "Five" which breezes right along into the two parts of "My Memory" chock full of breaks, drum builds and vocoder fun.
Next to last we have the antipodal "Us and Them" with lots of bright percussion and chimey synths playing counterpoint to drum patterns and fuzzed out melodies that do bizarre enough things with the tempo it sounded at some points like read errors on the pickup laser.
Definitely pop this one in the player after midnight at your next party when everyone's good and buzzed and then see what sort of answers you get to the following question: What exactly *is* whiskey-coke?
