DE LA SOUL | Art Official Intelligence LB | Pop Artificielle A GUY CALLED GERALD | Essence

DE LA SOUL | Art Official Intelligence (Tommy Boy)

DE LA SOUL | Art Official Intelligence (Tommy Boy)

Mention De La Soul and people think 3 Feet High and Rising, they think jazzy instrumentation, conversational rhyming and silly skits. Much to the annoyance of the band, it would seem, who followed 3 Feet with the anti-pop De La Soul is Dead and Stakes Is High. If you're still hoping for 3 Feet Part 2, you'll be disappointed by Art Official Intelligence. The music has got tougher, the beats harder and the vocal delivery less distinctive. While it's a shame they feel the need to reaffirm their underground credentials, it does mean they've enlisted the help of some fresh talent, including Likwit crew members Xzibit and the Alkaholiks, female rapper Indeed and Redman. Elsewhere, the Beastie Boys join in with the shouting, Busta Rhymes adds his growl to "I C Y'all", and Chaka Khan is sassy and classy on "All Good?". There are just enough flashes of lyrical invention to ensure Art Official Intelligence is unmistakably De La Soul, but it's merely a good hip-hop album, rather than the classic pop album that 3 Feet was. Laurence Phelan

LB | Pop Artificielle (Output)

The history of dance music is one of sampling, postmodern referencing or simple theft. So in theory there's nothing wrong with a collection of 10 "electronically reconstructed cover versions". In practice, though, if you're going to cover classic pop songs, you'd better have something to add. The music on Pop Artificielle is actually rather subtle but, instead of James Brown's sexually-charged vocals on "Superbad", or the inimitable voice of Bowie on "Ashes to Ashes", there's just "vocal resynthesis generated from original vocal raw material". Only an ironic version of "Silence is Golden" is worth the effort. LP

A GUY CALLED GERALD | Essence (STUD!O K7)

The last we heard of Gerald Simpson was 1995's Black Secret Technology, which was fairly influential in the burgeoning intelligent drum'n'bass scene. In Essence, we find that Gerald hasn't really moved on from there - which is excellent news. The electronic wizardry and precise drum programming of instrumentals "Final Call" and "The First Breath", make one wish for a little less of the pseudo-spiritual vocals, although Wendy Page is seductive on "Beaches and Deserts" and Lady Kier (of Deee-Lite) does some wicked scatting on "Hurry To Go Easy". All in all, one of the year's best drum'n'bass albums. LP