Sonic YOUTH

If we were to store a collection of contemporary '90s dance music in a time capsule for future generations to listen to, then what genre would we choose to document the times we live in? Would it be the icy steel-funk aesthetic of Detroit, the hyperactive shuffle of the drum'n'bass crew, or the swirling psychedelia of the trance dancers? No. If we were to be truly democratic in our selection, the choice for the majority of this loved-up generation would be bands like Ultra-Sonic from Scotland.

Capturing the feeling of a particularly mad one, Ultra-Sonic's music is disposable pop-dance music, albeit a form that appeals to people of all ages and races. Simple, head-rush tunes that have put a wide-eyed grin on faces from every denomination and simultaneously won them fans in all corners of the globe. These are the sounds that, like it or not, get most people going all of the time.

The records Ultra-Sonic produce are a direct influence of their background: they grow up during the acid house era, and quickly embraced the highs of full-on rave. Despite their roots, Ultra-Sonic's distinctly un-Scottish sounding Mallarco is keen to impress that they are not merely a slickly produced Pinky'n'Perky act for the mid to late 1990s.

"The majority of our music is pretty fast and it's really high-energy dance music," he says, "but we have some slow numbers. On our second album (Global Tekno) we did a cover of Phil Collins' 'In the Air Tonight'. That was a surprise for a lot of people. We try to dabble in all kinds of music, we don't want to be pigeonholed as 'Ultra-Sonic - they do this'. We've always tried to experiment.

"Earlier we released a couple of house tracks, and at the moment we're working with guitars and a lot of rappers and hip-hop sounds. We've been trying to get away from rave for the last few years. We respect our rave roots, but we're not a rave band: we're a dance band."

Despite their willingness to draw on diverse sources for inspiration, even if it means using ballads from balding crooners, Ultra-Sonic will, rightly or wrongly, always be associated with whistles, white gloves and over-the-top anthems. However, the hardcore techno/rave world from whence they came has become divided over the years, as the output of involved producers dovetailed into the respective pop/happy hardcore and drum'n'bass groupings. How does Mallarco feel about the more sophisticated work of the breakbeat specialists? "I can really get off on drum'n'bass, but I don't like the way dance music splintered off into drum'n'bass, techno, house, intelligent and ambient. We preferred it in the earlier days when you could go to a party and the DJs would be spinning everything from hardcore to house and jungle to ambient. You were getting your ears open to every type of music, whereas now you're either into this or that. "

Despite his somewhat eclectic musical tastes, Mallarco is quick to pour scorn over events like Tribal Gathering, which for one day managed successfully to bring all different strands of the global dance phenomenon together: "They are bringing a lot of people together, but the mistake they're making is that they are breaking it down into different tents. It's very easy for someone to say 'well, I like trance, so I'm staying in the trance tent all night.', but they might be missing a good night in the drum'n'bass or hardcore tent. They mightn't initially think of going to it, but if they were exposed to it they might think 'well this is quite good, I'll give it a listen.' Bringing everyone together, that's what dance music is all about."

Thanks to their continuing mission to bring one nation under a groove, Ultra-Sonic seem to have become rather fond of their Irish fans. "We've played in Ireland nearly half a dozen times by now," enthuses Mallarco, "and the Irish crowd are really energetic and up for it from the word go."

Bearing in mind that Ultra-Sonic are Scottish, and that their home country has possibly the biggest happy hardcore/rave scene in the world (the band are regulars at massive events like Rezerection), are there any parallels to be drawn with goings on closer to home? "We played the Navan Centre to five thousand people," says Mallarco, "and there definitely is a Celtic connection going on: clubbers in Ireland are glad to see you and glad to hear the music, and everything just gels into a great night."

Tying in with their live dates, the Sonics are working on their third studio album, "a live high-energy hardcore album," and have a new single called 'Do You Believe in Love' currently available. Guaranteed to sell by the bucketload, Ultra-Sonic's uncomplicated soundtrack will continue to give the sweaty'n'saucer-eyed the manic pop thrills they crave. n