Timo Maas: Loud

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

Eventually, the superstar DJ must show his hand with his own album and after releasing a couple of compilations, it's the turn of German techno-wunder Maas and his long-playing debut proper.

It can be an intriguing, varied affair as it shifts from the chill-out bubblings of Hash Driven and Bad Days and some notable vocal collaborations - hip-hop soul diva Kelis on the spooky, theremin-assisted opener Help Me and Finley Quay offering a word-association ramble over Caravan.

But its backbone is shadowy, squelchy and propulsive-undertow floor-stompers like Manga, the conga-crazed Like Love, the 80s-ish self-explanatory Old School Vibes and the two tracks featuring vocal offsider Martin Bettinghaus - That's How I've Been Dancin' and Ubik, which gets two mixes. So does To Get Down - Fatboy Slim's bonus track reworking unfortunately supplies one of the few moments when Loud rises above Maas' genre dabblings and lives up to that album title.

Label: FMR