8 / 10
Longtime-coming debut album from Dan and Jon Kahuna, and we're in luck. Though it lacks a definitive thumper likely to propel the duo to the chart status you'd reckon, after all this time, they kind of deserve, 'Machine Says Yes' is fresh, fiesty and fierce. From the blippy Stateside drawl of 'Nothing Is Wrong' to the heavenly chill-out slinker 'Hayling', to a guest turn from Gruff Super Furry on 'Fear Of Guitars' which is, it says here, "a paranoid mantra about the state of air conditioning", this is an assured work.
Easily as good as the last Chemical Brothers album and often snapping at the heels of Daft Punk's 'Discovery', 'Machine Says Yes' is as broad in its retro reference points (the title track is a dreamy Bassomatic-meets-Visage-athon) as it is happy to revel in the futuristic. Futuristic to a point, obviously – October 2004 at a guess, by which point they'll obviously be due a second album. Bonus!
Peter Robinson
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