Yikes!

Chronique

Drum'n'bass pioneer Tony Colman may be the co-founder of Hospital Records, but recently he appears to have been usurped by one of his own acts, thanks to early signing Danny Byrd's Rave Digger LP becoming the first in the label's 15-year history to enter the charts and spawn a Top 40 single. Hitting back straight away, Colman, under his regular guise of London Elektricity, now attempts to show who's boss with his seventh studio album, Yikes! Unlike the breakneck-speed beats, hardcore stabs, and chunky acid-house riffs of his protégé, the follow-up to 2008's Syncopated City is a much mellower affair more suited to the chillout after-party than an illegal warehouse rave. There are still the occasional club bangers such as the skittering techno of "Flesh Music" and the warped-bass jungle of the title track, but the majority of its 11 songs are layered in warm synths, atmospheric basslines, and an ambient percussive-driven production that hints at Colman's acid jazz past. While most drum'n'bass maestros rely on a series of faceless vocalists, the sole outside contributor to Yikes! is Swedish singer/songwriter Elsa Esmerelda, who more than repays that trust, her smoky understated tones providing a touch of class to the languid Goldie-esque opener, "Elektricity Will Keep Me Warm," the brooding minimal trip-hop of the Massive Attack-influenced "Fault Lines," and the haunting, somber finale, "Invisible Worlds," which confidently waits four minutes for its Kate Bush-inspired torch song to burst into a blend of improvisational brass riffs and frenetically paced beats. Indeed, alongside the likes of the dubstep-infused "U Gotta B Crazy," the spacy liquid funk of "Love the Silence" and the psychedelic rock leanings of "Round the World in a Day," it's sometimes easy to forget that you're listening to a drum'n'bass affair. It might not please the purists, but while Byrd's commercial breakthrough unashamedly celebrated the genre's past, Yikes! feels more like a preview of its future, and like fellow revivalists Chase & Status, sounds like a drum'n'bass record that could appeal to people who don't like drum'n'bass.
© Jon O'Brien /TiVo