Damian Lazarus and Matthew Styles - 'Get Lost' (Crosstown Rebels) Released 17/04/06

Amidst the unending torrent of dance mix albums, it would be wholly wrong to bracket ‘Get Lost’ in this category. Instead, it’s an often bewildering/often mind-blowingly brilliant foray into subversive electronic music - music so firmly entrenched in the underground that even a hardened electronica aficionado will only be able to spot a few names. There’s no set agenda here, really you’re left wondering what avenues Lazarus and Styles are going to take you down. The only thing that’s certain is that it will be damn interesting.

It all starts off pretty sedately with the hushed whisperings of Caro and Garcia’s ambient ‘Far Away’ before things get a bit deeper with the ominous plaintive hum of Repeat Repeat’s ‘Car Park’ and the electronica pandemonium of Styro 2000’s ‘Senegal.’ A minimal re-working of The Knife’s ‘Silent Shout’ courtesy of Troy Pierce continues the subdued tone, while Bob Mello’s gorgeous ‘Give Me’ adds a bit of bleepiness and melody into the equation. However, it soon becomes transparent that there’s going to be rare rapturous moments – this is twisted electronic music that simmers beneath the surface often only threatening to unleash something more potent. After an engrossing electronic journey, the beast is soon unleashed in the shape of Ost & Kjex’s gloriously dubbed ‘How Not To Be A Biscuit’ – a monumental tune hitting the listener with walls of uncompromising synthetic noise, before growing in clamour and transmogrifying into an electronic opus. As if to purposely perplex us all, this zenith  is followed by Und’s ‘Coccopuffs’ the sound of a man saying “coccopuffs” over and over. And that’s it. Bastards.

Rather than up the tempo, the second mix offers a glut of eclectic and equally confounding tunes. Naum’s ‘Feln’ is an aimless yet beguiling electronic exploration, Four Tet’s unhinged ‘A Joy’ is the sound of losing one’s marbles, while John Tejada’s brilliant ‘Paranoia’ is nothing short of hypnotic. Elsewhere, things get a bit weirder, typified by Position Normal’s madcap ‘Jimmy Had Jane’ where a cockney-twanged narrator tells us a tale about “pickled eggs.” Hmmm. Later, things pick up courtesy of  Si Begg’s fan-fookin-tastic sounds like the Nightrider theme tune after snorted a nasty speed cocktail. That good. Then it’s an incursion through the sleazy (Bergheim’s ‘Take My Soul’), the eerily beautiful (Duoteque’s ‘Lola’) and the otherworldly Abe Duque’s ‘Take Me To Heaven.’ By the closing zaniness of Hannas Berber’ ‘Beautifully Squashy Lightbulbs’, you’re left mystified yet sound in the knowledge you’ve experienced something quite unique.