DJ Fresh: Escape From Planet Monday

Herald rating: * *

Listening to this solo release from Bad Company's DJ Fresh has an effect like a big wet dog jumping on you - at first cute, then scary, then you just want it to go.

This is one untamed dog from a producer who doesn't agree that less is more. Fresh's cuts are unpredictable creations that swing violently from camp-pop anthems to bizarre experiments.

On The Pink Panther, Nathan Haines' great jazz flute is swamped by hideous bass, and X Project is just mindless noise.

The guests are almost as over-the-top but it's their efforts that save the album from being a computer-generated catastrophe.

Pendulum, Australia's campest drum'n'bass duo, give Babylon Rising a trance-like jungle vibe; on Closer, DJ Shadow crashes in with typically percussive-heavy abandon; and the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant gives a surreal performance on Throw.

Despite its madness, there's a refreshing playfulness to Fresh. All Strung Out, with its bubbling harp and lush arrangements is an example of what can go right using this all-in-a-blender approach.

But mostly it's a befuddled mess. Fresh has heaps of ideas - he just doesn't know where to channel them.

Label: Breakbeat Kaos