August 16, 2000

London WC1 ULU

Tonight, the ambassadors of avant-bleep, they are really spoiling us.

Tonight, the ambassadors of avant-bleep, they are really spoiling us. They put on a sonic spread of the richest, ripest laptop morsels and allow us to gorge. There's none of the glitch-fondling, cut-up brain-dance intermissions which made last year's 'Niun Niggung' record such a frustrating listen. Instead, we get an endless barrage of hedonist's beats, disco rhythms, hip-hop breakdowns, jungle flourishes and their trademark synth squelches.

It is, quite frequently, incredible, matching anything techno terrorist Ken Ishii or house show-offs Basement Jaxx produce and similar to both in its sheer bass-quaking thrust. Looking at Andi Toma - hair wild, frugging away to the groove like it's the first time he's heard the track - you wonder how Mouse On Mars got a reputation as esoteric bleep-heads. Along with keyboard-tweaker Jan St Werner and hyper-driven drummer Dodo Nkishi, Toma looks like the embodiment of the happy, hyped, lost-it club kid. And Mouse On Mars have been doing this for years, there's no reason why he should still be so into it.

Well, there is a reason, obviously, and it comes in the shape of spaced-funk mantras like 'Super Sonig Fadeout', all epileptic synth spurts and beats as hard as Richie Hawtin's. They'll lock in and get all repetitive on our ass, twist the beats inside out, explore some brief techno cul-de-sac, then rejoin the groove for a final fizzing fade-out. We emerge glutted, unsteady, that bassbin buzz in our ears. What a feast.