First Norman Cook was a Housemartin, then he formed electronic outfit Beats International, and since the 90s he's been the big beat behemoth Fat Boy Slim. Now, with The BPA - short for the Brighton Port Authority in reference to his hometown - he's teamed up with a bunch of diverse guests, including Iggy Pop, Martha Wainwright and soulful, head-nodding house producer Ashley Beedle, to do an album. Of special interest for New Zealanders is the collaboration between Cook and our own Connan Hosford (aka Connan Mockasin) on Jumps The Fence. It's by far the oddest track of the 12 thanks to Mockasin doing his best Goodbye Pork Pie, Blondini-style storytelling vocals over the top of some bouncy beach ball beats. Good to see the Kiwi lad keeping up the fruity factor in the Motherland. Speaking of fruity, probably the oddest match-up is the duet between David Byrne and Brit rapper Dizzee Rascal on Toe Jam which makes for an arse-shaking, good-time party tune. Elsewhere Beedle's Should I Stay Or Should I Blow is a wurlitzer, Latino, Clash mash-up, which gives way to the forlorn shuffle and Cure-like meandering of Island (featuring electronica smoothie Justin Roberston), and Wainwright's glam-folk voice is given a chinking, reggae backing. As you'd expect with such a varied mix of vocalists and styles there are some hits and misses, but the contributions from Mockasin, and Byrne and the little Rascal, are stand-outs. Rating: * * * |
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