Muzikium

The future for the cross-over dance album is in deep jeopardy. The latest efforts from Orbital and The Chemical Brothers were a pale shadow of former glories, while early last week Leftfield announced a sudden and surprise split.

For sure, Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx have been marching boldly on while most of their contemporaries are flaffing about – but it doesn’t take a genius or an overpaid DJ to figure that the dance album format desperately needs a new lease of life.

That’s exactly why the debut album from X Press 2 – a triumvirate comprising of Ashley Beedle, Rocky and Diesel – is such a welcome blast of intoxicating pop house. Hailing from London’s slightly more unfashionable suburbs, the boys have been producing, remixing, deejaying and working in record shops for several years. Since 1993, they have released some of the most influential and successful tracks in British house, especially the early anthems ‘Muzik X Press’ and ‘London X Press’. Maybe you could put it down to a wealth of collective experience, but Muzikium is utterly breathtaking.

The production is pristine yet organic. The content is varied yet coherent. And boy does it rock, from beginning to end.

Aside from the scorching tech-house instrumentals, you also get brilliant vocal cameos from none other than Talking Head David Byrne (‘Lazy’) and oddball Swiss electro popster Dieter Meier, formerly of Yello (‘I Want You Back’).

It’s got beef, it’s got balls, it’s got ten thumping tunes for the club, for the bedroom, for the head and for the heart.

The renaissance in credible commercial dance albums starts here.