Crowd Control (Volume One)

IT WASN'T too long ago that the use of the words 'Irish' and 'dance' in close proximity were enough to conjure up nightmarish images of hearty young lads and lasses hurtling round a community centre to the rousing strains of 'The Siege of Ennis'.

The world, thank Jaysus, has changed since then and nowadays we're dealing with a whole different kettle of microchips. Samples are no longer the things you pee into a bottle and hand to the doctor; tape loops aren't what you use to hang your coat up and dropping an 'E' doesn't necessarily mean you're going to lose at Scrabble.

Nope, modern technology is running rampant and despite our Luddite past, Ireland is embracing this brave new musical world with open arms - and cheque books.

Dublin's Sound Crowd are the undisputed leaders of the Celtic hi-tech gang and Crowd Control Volume One charts their progress to date, a sort of end-of-first-year report which gathers together an assortment of EP tracks, remixes and other odds and sods that they've found gathering dust on the studio shelves.

With dance music being physically dependent on outside influences, the biggest dilemma facing deejay Mark Kavanagh and his keyboard accomplice Mr. Fantastic is where the hell are they supposed to nick their ideas from? Their British counterparts, for instance, can always nip down the local reggae or bhangra club for a spot of inspiration but, last time I checked, ethnic culture was a tad scarce round these parts.

Bumble have pretty much taken the trad/dance crossover to its logical conclusion, so the only option left for Sound Crowd is to rifle magpie-like through their record collections and see what they can add a new twist to.

'Fifth Season' and 'Dream Lover' - the track they produced for their protégés Secret Weapon - are both enthusiastic approximations of Italian piano house with the latter demonstrating the supreme good taste to misappropriate the 'dum dum dum' bit from Dawn's 1971 kitsch classic, 'Knock Three Times'.

Hopefully, this won't lead to an outbreak of pencil moustaches and satin jumpsuits but it's a neat idea and one that deserves a wider audience.

'Sound Of The Crowd' gives the Human League original a vicious techno kicking with Phil Oakey reduced to the role of helpless bystander while 'Energy Rush' takes the kind of liberties with The Shamen that I suspect they'd rather enjoy. 'Concentrate', on the other hand, veers tantalisingly towards the ambient but goes and blows it at the end with a sudden outburst of intercontinental ballistic percussion. Still, it does hint at a diversity that the duo will doubtless develop as their dancefloor crusade continues.

The inclusion of all the samples used on the LP is another nice touch and should give D-I-Y enthusiasts hours of endless fun as they recreate the Sound Crowd track of their choice in their own bedrooms.

Crowd Control Volume One isn't without its flaws but as a statement of intent, it's pretty damn convincing.

• Stuart Clark