One thing that has not changed in the current electronic-dance revolution is the old pop-music male/female division of labor. With some exceptions (Margaret Fiedler of Laika, Riz Maslen of Neotropica, and a few others), too much electronica relies on the boys to handle the heavy machinery and the girls to croon over the beats.
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Two new English groups don't veer from this formula, but they do stretch the margins of this fruitful idiom.
The London-based trio Sneaker Pimps designs its sparse arrangements in the Tricky mold (think of fractured fairy tales with a stoned vibe), adding snippets of bracing guitar and a little rock attitude. Bitter detachment is the order of the day here: Vocalist Kelli Dayton sings like a teenager sulking alone at the prom, her Nancy Sinatraish voice and sarcastic tone matching the sinister tracks – the B-52's-ish "Tesko Suicide" floats flute and distorted guitar over a booming beat as a complement to its suicide tale; "6 Underground" samples a lush John Barry soundtrack tune into a pre-dawn hallucination; "Post-modern Sleaze," meanwhile, combines rambling acoustic guitar, upright bass and eerie synthesizers with a low-fi flair. Using just a few stark elements, Sneaker Pimps make pop as tension-filled as an Edgar Allan Poe novel.
Plenty of post-rave-scene acts sample strings, horns, percussion and keyboards, but few do it as thoughtfully, or with such ambition, as Lamb, who hail from Manchester, England. Drawing on producer Andy Barlow's housemusic background and singer Louise Rhodes' love of Joni Mitchell, the duo creates a startling tryst of electronic experimentation and traditional songwriting structure.
Lamb upends drum and bass's habit of piling random samples over an endless groove: Barlow's beats morph and churn like some ballet-trained monster, while Rhodes' dramatic, smoky voice sails effortlessly overhead. The album opens with a panorama of harps sweeping over a 7/4 beat in "Lusty" while Rhodes sings as if in a fever, arcing notes and sighing deliriously. "God Bless" and "Gorecki" continue this violently swirling spell, while other tracks ("Feela," "Zero") place Rhodes' voice over lone piano chords or cello.
Sneaker Pimps and Lamb may appear to be different sides of the same electronic coin, but both groups succeed in melding pop style with underground dance grooves, blurring boundaries and expectations. Becoming X and Lamb are arguments that electronica is a worthy heir to more time-tested musical genres – and not just a fluke of computer literacy. (RS 755)
KEN MICALLEF
