FUTURE CHAOS [Limited Edition]

There's a lot you could say about Future Chaos - odd, weird, analogue, retro yet brimming over with modernity - but the simple truth is, this album is a platinum-plated rarity in this day and age: a blinding set of songs, built up into an album you can play from start to finish without having to keep skipping forward. All killer, and no filler, if you will. I'd given up on being able to leave an album playing like I used to, but Bomb the Bass have delivered. Mind you, they've had fourteen years, so they've had time to finess the quality controls!

With the list of collaborators taking in Fujiya & Miyagi, Mark Lanegan, former APE man Paul Conboy, Jon Spencer and Toob, Future Chaos could have been a mish-mashed mess, but Simenon lets his killer producer's ear do the working, pulling everything together into nine tracks that sit pretty like a dream.

Where Clear was a love letter to dub, hip hop and soul, Future Chaos is decidely - and refreshingly - European in feel; where Bomb the Bass were once like a soundsystem, now they're more a system of sound, somehow making sense of Simenon's eclectic passions. Apparently he - along with chief collaborator Paul Conboy - pretty much fashioned the entire album on a Moog - not that you'd ever really know, because the production is bold yet always understated; clever and catchy without ever getting carried away into time killing extended dance workouts.

There's shimmers of dub (the gorgeous Hold Me Up), beats that kick like a mule (the deceptively catchy, yet dark as hell So Special), pop quirks (Butterfingers), subtle patches of ambient (No Bones) and obvious over (and under) tones of Simenon's dance past (Fuzzbox and Burn the Bunker); yet nothing is indulgent, and no one thing ever overshadows the songs.

Apparently the live shows are just as blistering, if the recent Big Chill reviews are anything to go by - so I'd say, with the charts awash with bland bands in black levi's and mockney tones, welcome back Mr Simenon, it was worth the wait!

Yes, the production's slick, like you'd expect from legendary producer Tim Simenon. But the big problem with this album is, it's not 'cutting edge' at all- in fact the whole thing's a bit lacklustre and uninspired.

It's a sort of indie-electro crossover that bands like Midnight Juggernauts and The Presets are currently doing a lot better. There are hints of that electroclash attitude which make some tracks sound like they were written five years ago.

There's over-use of that rich Moog sound, making a lot of the tracks too similar, and though the bass is strong the beats are weak.

Pretty disappointing after such a long wait.

Back with their first album since 1995's `Clear', `Future Chaos' sees Tim Simenon revamp his long-running project to produce a 9 tracker that may surprise many fans of their previous works, whilst gaining attention from a whole new set of listeners. Moving away from the dubby hip-hop influenced sound of previous releases, Simenon uses `Future Chaos' to concentrate on the darker and introspective side of techno-based electronica. The leaving behind of sample-based arrangements for exploration into analog-based sound-design has led to an album whose sonic-aesthetic lies somewhere between moody Massive Attack, somber Unkle, contemplative Layo & Bushwacka! and the intelligent future-disco of disKJokke- a sound that Simenon calls `electronic music with soul'. Since 2001's `Clear Cuts' EP and `Tracks' EP, Simenon's sound has been heavily influenced by various strands of electronica, namely micro-house, deep-tech and big-beat dance music and `Future Chaos' takes these elements and presents them in a uncluttered format that is progressive in arrangement.

Tickling tweeters and pushing the limits of low-end, the press release rightly states that `Future Chaos' "hovers confidently on the cusp between futurism and vintage". Throughout, euphoria-induced and neon-lit technoid-melodies flutter subtly beneath dreary and processed vocals to create an interesting fusion in which the playfully effervescent meets the ghostly atmospheric. The recruiting of a host of guest vocalists including Jon Spencer (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) and onetime QOTSA member Mark Lanegan add a distinct and personable character to the tracks whilst perfectly complementing Bomb The Bass' rich sonics.

The cutting-edge production techniques churn out warm and liquid bass-driven soundscapes- soundscapes that continuously whirr and crackle with a myriad of glitchy melodic motifs, stealthy modulations and ghostly tones to keep proceedings fascinating. `Old John' writhes on a groove-laden, prog-tech core which adds a smoky, kaleidoscopic aesthetic to hypnotic effect. On `So Special', Simenon hits the height of his new-found creativity. Like Joy Division meets Lindstrøm, a retro-tised disco melody meanders plumply in the neon background, its emphatic core being continuously augmented by crystallized electronics whilst Conboy's ethereal vocals spread vapour-like overtop. Elsewhere, Lanegan's weathered Americana vocals wring with a murky resonance on the elegantly eerie 'Black River' whilst free download single `Fuzzbox' sees Simenon explores the realms of deep big-beat techno with Spencer's heavily processed vocals merging into an hypnotic soup of constantly pulsating quasers, electroid flairs and tumbling beats.

With `Future Chaos', Simenon has successfully revamped and rebranded the Bomb The Bass sound (and image), taking elements of the 80's Numan-esque electronica sound and contemporizing it with ultra-modern production techniques and arrangements. Furthermore, the addition of guest vocalists adds real personality and soul to the continuously reverberating and ever-transforming soundscapes that stretch unhindered across the album. Fans of the acts mentioned above along with fans of soulful electronica such as the type found littering !K7's roster should not sleep on this release. (KS)

For fans of: Massive Attack, Unkle, Thom Yorke