(Warner)
Herald rating: * * *
Review: Russell Baillie
Having become a made man in the pop world with previous album 2 Future 4 U, high-rolling New York DJ Armand Van Helden returns with another set of rough'nready dance anthems.
As with his previous platter, Van Helden comes across here as someone less than content at just playing beatmaster and turntable twiddler. Which means when he's not laying down some amusingly dopey philosophy on the title track, he's treating us to more of his vocal talents on Hybridz - helping it go into an irritating overtime.
But this is still fun for its gloriously dumb house blasts of unlikely source material, as on Little Black Spiders (which makes dark metal noises care of a sampled Scorpions) or Koochy (which heavily scratches the rusty paintwork on Gary Numan's Cars).
Elsewhere he gets vocal help from rapper Common (on the disco/hip-hop amalgam Full Moon) and former Brand New Heavy N'Dea Davenport (at the start of the rampant eight minute workout Watch Your Back which turns early 70s Herbie Hancock inside out). But it sure can sound like the needle is stuck sometimes on the less inspired tracks and leaves the impression that Van Helden should worry less about projecting his superstar DJ personality and get more of it into the music.
<i>Armand Van Helden:</i> Killing Puritans
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