Luke Vibert

Releasing a headache-inducing array of CDs, LPs, EPs, singles, and compilation tracks -- under various aliases, no less -- Luke Vibert became one of the most well-known names of the 1990s electronic dance music scene. Vibert makes dance music for the head, music that challenges the intellect more than it taxes the feet. Under the guise of Plug, he speeds up hip-hop break beats, sometimes close to 200 b.p.m.s, creating his own very original take on drum-and-bass electronica that is so mathematical and abstract that it threatens to rip open a hole in the space-time continuum. Drum 'N' Bass for Papa/Plug EP's 1, 2 & 3 collects the majority of his work as Plug; it stands as one of the best full-length albums within the genre of jungle/drum and bass. As Wagon Christ, he slows things down to a trip-hop crawl, crafting a psychedelic musical bed that might best be described as a kind of vocal-less postapocalyptic rhythm & blues. Perhaps because Throbbing Pouch was instantly hailed as a classic of the trip-hop canon, you can feel him resisting the trip-hop label on Tally Ho!, which is far more eclectic than his previous effort. Tally Ho! zips all over the map, embracing spaced-out ambience, hyper-frenetic drum and bass, and the hazy murk of slo-mo hip-hop beats. Taken together, his entire catalogue suggests a kind of musical attention deficit disorder, particularly the music he released under his own name, Luke Vibert. Stop the Panic is a great example of this, a collaboration between Vibert and pedal steel guitar player B.J. Cole. The album integrates abstracted hip-hop beats with an instrument that is traditionally associated with country music, but which becomes totally detached from its earthly origins, revealing it to be capable of producing the most spacey, ethereal sounds this side of the Theremin. (KEMBREW MCLEOD)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide