★★★☆☆
The fires of electro-fidget/ghetto-bass/whatever you wanna call it, won’t burn out without a fight. Here’s Theo Keating, ex “Ooh La La” Wiseguy, man behind one of fidget house’s most distinctive stormers in “Mars” as well as the disco scramble “I Think I Like It,” revving up to blow the house down. Up to its eyeballs in hands-up riffs, rave-researched vibes and synth-bass propulsion, the immediacy of FB’s Cells research tips you from your seat and hits you head-on, rather than jabbing at your ears with sounds akin to silly string. “Airbrushed” is a classy electro-disco skirmish with enough force for the badboys and enough boogie in its body to rollerskate to. That little bit of cavalier amusement from Keating’s past indulges in “Another World” and its flatulent Kossak bass, the show-time pianoman camping up “All in the Blink,” and a sub-espionage plot to the big beat-threaded “Phantom Power.”
Maybe better suited mixed, it’s not a compendium of house and bass that will make a long lasting impression (and there’s not much to give “Mars” a run for its money either). Dated is not quite the right description – “End of Days” fits the EDM remit perfectly with personal touches including fluffy flutes – but supplying add-ons to a formula thought past its best builds up a head of niggling negatives which prevent this from being the go-to, jump-up party album it really should be. Good, if limited, rush-hour dance music.
File under: Hervé, Jack Beats, Bart B More