In 1988, Tim Simenon was a teenage DJ making cut-and-paste hip-hop singles in the style of fellow English mix masters Coldcut, S'Express and M/A/R/R/S. His first single, "Beat Dis," was intended to be a simple, faceless dance record, but it wound up catapulting Simenon into Britain's suffocating pop spotlight. By 1993, the DJ and producer had released two albums in Britain, Into the Dragon and Unknown Territory, as Bomb the Bass.

Simenon has returned with his third Bomb the Bass album, Clear, and it demonstrates just how far he has come since those early days. The novelty of samplers has apparently worn off for Simenon, and what has emerged is a proficient sweep through dub reggae, hip-hop, jazz, techno and the literary collection of William S. Burroughs. With fewer electronic bites and more original instrumentation, Clear is Simenon's most sophisticated work to date.

On "Empire," an emotive ballad that plays on the similarity of the words empire and vampire in describing England as a bloodsucking entity, Sinéad O'Connor duets with the delicate-voiced newcomer Benjamin Zephaniah to beautiful effect. But it's the Los Angeles rapper Justin Warfield who is most responsible for Clear's edgy, Beatlike quality. When Warfield waxes lyrical about Willy Wonka over Simenon's drug-addled bassoon foundation on "Brain Dead" or flips the lines "Bug powder dust/To mugwump jism/The wild boys running/Round interzone trippin'," on "Bug Powder Dust," it's apparent that this music is a far cry from typical hip-hop fare.

The album's smooth-flowing, laid-back jazz quality stands in stark contrast to the original European release of Clear, which carried a frenetic pace similar to flipping through television channels. Alternate versions – and even song omissions (including a contribution from the author Will Self) – make for an entirely different creation for the American audience, although both albums are equally worthwhile.

On Clear, Bomb the Bass reaches well beyond the boundaries of the trip-hop appellation to present tunes sweet to the ears and lyrics that stick in the mind. (RS 732)

TAMARA PALMER