Wagon Christ: Musipal : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The british electro-dilettante Luke Vibert records under a variety of funky personae - he uses Wagon Christ when he's in a trip-hop mood. Musipal subtly bumps, steadily chills and is largely driven by bass tones that sound like the foundations of your house slowly warping beneath you. Vibert's beat stew could pass for whimsical, instrumental hip-hop, with surreal samples subbing for a rapper, but the music is so laid back and downbeat that it should come with a Starbucks coupon. "Natural Suction" takes three minutes to really get going but eventually evolves into an abstract, sensual drum-and-bass gallop reminiscent of Vibert's work as Plug (check out 1996's brilliant Drum 'n' Bass for Papa). But Vibert's horizontal, blunted grooves are always loaded with humor: The breezy "Step to the Music'' is a shimmering ode to vibraphone-drenched tiki-torch jazz of the Fifties, spiked with cartoon sound effects. Techno music has always flirted precipitously with kitsch, but few producers conflate electronica with exotica as effortlessly as Vibert does in "Step." This is cool, pleasantly disposable modern-lounge music that owes more to Martin Denny than it does to Kraftwerk. File it under "Future Schlock." (RS 866)

PAT BLASHILL