Strange and serene, Red Tape is a refreshing contrast not just to Andrew Brooks’ 2002 debut You, Me & Us (an orthodox house offering), but to anything else around at the moment. Like fruitier labelmate The Soft Pink Truth, Brooks is a young, gay man whose accessible, glitch-flecked digital funk carries a homoerotic subtext (his reading of PJ Harvey’s “Mansize”, for example, the weak link here). Rich in ideas and lissomly executed, beguiling quasi-disco gems “Roxxy”, “Bedbugs” and “Burning Buxx” reveal a Beck-like versatility. Indeed, for all its wayward experiments, Red Tape fascinates and satisfies at every turn.
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