North [VINYL]

If you're expecting 10 tunes along the lines of Darkstar's UK-garage-y single "Aidy's Girl is a Computer" you're in for a surprise. Or even if you're just expecting a record in-keeping with what, to date, most would consider to be the Hyperdub sound (dubstep, techno, electro, dub, whatever) you're also in for a surprise. Fans of the label don't need to panic though - Hyperdub haven't done a Peacefrog and started releasing incongruous indie artists.

What they HAVE done, is something really cool.

"North" sets its stall out in the first two tracks. Track 1 (side 1) is a stunner: there's a misleading bleepy intro before we get to music, reminiscent of Spiritualized's "Broken Heart". Track 2 is a cover version of a little-known Human League b-side (I'd never heard of it anyway) "You Remind me of Gold" (here titled just "Gold"). Whilst sonically Darkstar don't have that much in common with the Human League there IS one, key, common thread - their ability to sound both cutting edge and popular. This is pop...I think, but it is that rare breed of pop which is also adventurous and experimental. There are clear parallels with (label-mate) Burial, if not in style, then in terms of an overall mood of sadness and wistfulness.

So what exactly is "North"? Well it's very difficult to say - and that is a good thing.

One description could be: suppose Robert Wyatt, inspired by Pet Shop Boys and Massive Attack, decided to make an album that sounded a bit like both? But that really that doesn't do Darkstar or any of the three of my proposed influences justice. But you might just see what I mean if you've heard this?

There are deep electronics, synthetic strings, lead vocals on all but two of the selections, great melodies and a cinematic quality (all of these songs I think, would sound great on a film soundtrack). One recurring feature is an interesting effect on the vocals - sounds like a corrupted MP3 file. Remember hip-hop records where the crackles were on the recording not the vinyl? Well this is the modern equivalent, it would seem (note to Amazon: expect a higher than usual number of returns of apparently faulty copies).

Darkstar deserve to (and hopefully will) be a massive commercial success. If this CD isn't top of those (once interesting, now tedious ubiquitous, arbitrary and inevitable) end-of-year charts beloved of journalists with little to say, and record companies with units to shift into Xmas stockings - then that just proves my point - such people have either no imagination or a hidden agenda. "North" has a very good chance of making #1 in my own never-to-be-compiled "Best of 2010" chart.

And in any event, if it doesn't turn out to be huge I'll eat my beanie hat (or at least, stuff it down some journalist's throat).

I had great hopes for this, having loved "Aidy's Girl's A Computer" and being a fan of much of Hyperdub's output, not to mention having read numerous very positive reviews, but I feel sadly underwhelmed.

The good: Some great sonic textures; interesting granular sounding synth sounds, very well combined. Some of the digital glitches, dropouts & granularisations which occur are great, like weird matrix moments when the digital breaks through the facade of human normality

The bad: The lyrics & songs. If you're going to present a song, particularly when accompanied by such great sonic architecture, it should ideally be more than just a bunch of anodyne lyrics delivered in a passable but nondescript voice. Sadly, this is pretty much what you get. I got no particular sense of *anything* from the vocals, other than that they were there to fill a spot in the sonic environment, but even in that context, the character of the voice was sadly lacking in textural interest relative to just about every other element in the mix.

A great shame, as they are clearly very talented producers. Had this been an instrumental album it could have been superb, but if they wish to continue down a song-led patch, I can only hope that they choose to work with more inspired singers & songwriters from now on.

This is an unbelivable album! Buy it. But beware, AMAZON CANNOT PACK VINYL. Rather than sending the album in an vinyl postage sleeve the record was forced into an undersized box resulting the record cover being bent at the edges. HArdly how you'd expect a new product to arrive from a firm that specialises in mail order. Zero stars to amazon.