Probably the most wistful music you'll hear this year is on this debut album by Casino Versus Japan, which takes us back to the good old days when electronica wasn't afraid to be beautiful. Tracks like "The Possible Light" and "Summer Clip" have the same kind of warped grandiloquence as the Aphex Twin and Global Communications a decade ago: delicate melodic flakes magnified through a cosmic amplifier. On tracks like "Moonlupe", Vangelis is even brought to mind—and there's nothing illegal about that.
Brought up on the same south London estate as the rampaging So Solid Crew, you might have expected Baz to have become a soul diva or a rap artist, like her sister Monie Love. Instead, under the direction of uber-producer Guy Sigsworth, she's chosen an unashamedly pop path. It would be unfair to call her a black Dido, even if several of the melodies would not have sounded out of place on No Angel. But a female version of Seal wouldn't be far wide of the mark.
Thought deceased, big beat is in fact set to be the new ska—resurrected every few years by students who think they've discovered a new sound. Brighton scene originators Skint are therefore proud of Fatboy Slim, Lo Fidelity Allstars and X-Press 2 with David Byrne, but who's got time to sit through 26 of their videos? Plenty of laughs here nevertheless, as typified by Doug Aitken's wigs'n' breakdancing promo for "Rockafeller Skank".
