Mo Wax records founder James Lavelle and DJ Shadow are the men from UNKLE, a collaborative project that began four years ago, and the duo has finally released its first full album. Psyence Fiction is also one of the most highly anticipated records of the year, thanks to the success of DJ Shadow's 1997 breakthrough album, Endtroducing...; Lavelle's notoriety as a remixer (Beck, the Verve, Radiohead) and talent scout (Shadow and Money Mark are Mo Wax artists); and a lineup of celebrity guests. Radiohead's Thom Yorke, the Verve's Richard Ashcroft and the Beastie Boys' Mike D all co-wrote and performed on tracks here. There's even an appearance by Metallica bassist Jason Newstead.

This merger of star power and DJ-culture cred has already caused a backlash in some factions of the electronic underground and generated preposterous pre-release hype in pop circles. But Psyence Fiction – largely written by Shadow, with Lavelle serving as co-producer and concept man – is neither a bombastic, allstar spectacle nor a groundbreaking reinterpretation of dance music as we know it. The album is an accessible yet edgy blend of movie-soundtrack-style ambience, hip-hop experimentation, rock & roll reverb, maniacal drum breaks and turntable-synthesizer spasms. DJ Shadow does not cut and paste disparate elements into Massive Attack-like moods or fuse stockpiles of sound into quirky pop masterpieces à la Cornershop. Shadow is too impatient, avoiding deep emotions like the plague, dropping jarring chunks of beat into otherwise placid pools of melody, pumping mad noises through precision technology.

"Come with us into the realm of imagination," a clinical voice announces in "UNKLE Main Title Theme," a liquid mix of gauzy guitar, psychotic violin and Shadow's own furious scratching. Primal drumming drives "Unreal" and the dynamic "Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Pt. 1)," a showcase for New York rhymer Kool G Rap and frequent Shadow confederates Latyrx. And "Lonely Soul," featuring Ashcroft and placed at the dead center of the record, is the album's peak. Ashcroft sings with sultry Northern English soul over drum-and-bass beats, spare keyboards, delicate strings and muffled snare-drum rolls. The result is nine minutes of song spilling over with stark pathos.

Punctuated by the cuts and swipes of Shadow and with Newstead on bass and theremin, Mike D does his Beastie thing in "The Knock (Drums of Death Pt. 2)," whining "I'm gonna break it down in an UNKLE style" atop chaotic beats and drum solos. The production here is thin in the bass at first, fat in the vocals, then it all switches in mid-stream, giving the track a topsy-turvy effect. "Rabbit in Your Headlights" brings the album to a more sensitive close. Yorke sings in a lilting voice over a lonely piano and a barely audible shuffle rhythm – until a low rumbling rolls in beneath Yorke's performance like a storm under a highflying plane.

Psyence Fiction is neither a lofty concept album nor the sonic equivalent of cinema. But it is Shadow and Lavelle's striving for such greatness that makes UNKLE a compelling work in progress. (RS 797)

LORRAINE ALI