Choice cuts of beats

By ALAN PERROTT

The 21st was in full swing and cousin Martin was leaning against a wall, looking fine in wide lapels with beer in hand as the aunties did what they do well on the dance floor.

A parade of classic rock and new wave hits had drawn a slight sneer across his face and the correct alignment of belt buckle and shirt buttons was threatening to monopolise his attention.

But when the second Michael Jackson struck his ears it was like Clark Kent becoming Superman and he dropped and gave us 20 as he busted out his freakiest disco styles.

Which in, a medium-winded kind of way, is intended to show that the key to unlocking your moneymaker can be a serious business, as personal as fashion choice, political affiliation and whether you favour baked beans or spaghetti.

Those who favour dancing in the comfort of their armchair may find salvation in Exclusives, the latest genre-bending collection assembled under the Gilles Peterson Worldwide brand.

DJ Gilles Peterson was the brains behind labels Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud, and hosts Worldwide, a hugely influential late-night radio show which draws from and beams to punters around the globe. He was here two years ago for a show in the Auckland Domain with Norman Jay.

Peterson's reputation has been forged on the best accolade you can bestow on a selecta - good taste - and this collection maintains his reputation with offerings such as the hip-hop cool of Ty's Sophisticated & Coarse (Everyday Thoughts) and the fiddle-flavoured, percussive gospel of Build an Ark's The Blessing Song.

I'd pay cash money just to sit outside the window of one of his parties.

Not a million miles away from Peterson are the Thievery Corporation - almost the perfect name to hang a compilation from. As is this pair's wont, they've taken time out from making their own stuff to give us a taste of their, er, taste.

The Outernational Sound casts as wide a net as Peterson without being as willfully obscure. Again we have quality goods which trace a stylistic trajectory from chic downbeat to breakbeat funk, bookended by some fine African groove, before scaling the heights of Bollywood to reach Jamaica. All jolly good fun with some sympathetic mixing which allows each track to exhale before the next kicks in.

And the compilations just keep compiling with Blue Note's Revisited, their long-awaited response to rival jazz-label Verve's Remixed series. As a group they are an interesting, if variable, bunch where big name producers are given the keys to a label's vault of classics and permission to stick their fingers into whatever honeypots they can reach. While a step up on Verve, the Blue Note take starts with the big guns before tailing off steeply. The best results come from those who choose not to remix but to rework, such as Kyoto Jazz Massive who should pull you from your chair with a fine effort on Eddie Henderson's Kuku, with guest vocals from downbeat diva Vanessa Freeman. But it still feels like style over content, particularly when the liner notes are as interested in the cover model's ensemble as the musical contributors.

Bring out the party balloons for Pleasure, the self-titled debut album from an eccentric young Norwegian with the unlikely name of Fred Ball - and he certainly had one putting this together. Ball has meccano-ed an assured collection of high-tech bleep-pop with help from a small army including Justine Frischmann from Elastica, Catatonia's Cery Matthews, and Doctor Funk, who contributed synth squeals to Prince's early works.

And you just gotta like an album that declares "lots of computers were involved in the making of this recording". Aside from new single Don't Look the Other Way, you could do worse than lend your ears and smile to From the Country to the City and I'm Confused.

Just as engaging is another self-titled effort from New York octet Louden Up Now, who are part of a small but fervent revival in the early 80s dancepunk of Medium Medium, Ministry and Liquid Liquid.

If you get past the awful cover art there is some PVC-clad leaping to be had from their sinewy bass grooves, nasty guitars and a voice from the Human League school of crooning. Such pottymouths, though.

Note to Wes Craven: any of these tracks would form the perfect sleazy soundtrack to those strobe-lit, underground clubs vampires seem to favour before a night of evildoing.


Gilles Peterson Worldwide: Exclusives

(Herald rating: * * * * *)

Impeccably diverse taster displaying more cutting edges than your local butcher
Label: Mercury

Thievery Corporation: The Outernational Sound

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Around the world in 60 minutes without the lingering taste of airline food

Label: Eighteenth Street Lounge Music


Blue Note Revisited

(Herald rating: * * *)

A reinterpretation of classic jazz or sticking a moustache on a musical Mona Lisa?

Label: Blue Note

Pleasure: Pleasure

(Herald rating: * * * *)

An assured look back in love at the 90s vibe that looked back to the 80s

Label: Circus

Louden up now: Louden Up Now

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Sleazy, dark, punk grooves for the eyeliner brigade

Label: Touch And Go