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Strife...it's Mono!

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Mono - Formica Blues | Air - Moon Safari | Morcheeba - Big Calm

Mono - Formica Blues Echo/Liberation (Aus)

Known primarily for their eerily good "Life In Mono" from the 'Great Expectations' soundtrack, Mono are a UK based two piece whose style falls somewhere between Portishead and The Cardigans. Which is a pretty wide range to inhabit. Indeed, there's no other way to describe it. Listening to this album makes one want to do a double take and make sure that it's not a compilation. The moody and floating "Life In Mono" starts off the album, only to be followed with the Portishead\Motown influenced "Silicone". Just when you think you know where they're going, they follow THAT with "Slimcea Girl", a song that sounds more like a Lisa Stansfield cover than an ode to Portishead. Fortunately, Mono succeed in assuming all these identities without ever sounding trite or cliched. Formica Blues suffers from a lack of musical cohesiveness, but that's also part of the band's appeal; they seem to have a good grasp on all sorts of genres. This gets a bit boring midway through, but all in all, not a bad effort for such an ambitious idea. - Mark Pytlik

Air - Moon Safari Virgin

There's no possible way that this album could have lived up to all the advance hype. The next Daft Punk, some people said. The saviours of electronic music, said others. Not surprisingly, Moon Safari is neither. It's more like a cross between grocery store muzak and David Bowie's "Low". And I mean this in a good way. From the confident swagger of first single "Sexy Boy" to the spaced out, roboticized slur of "Kelly Watch The Stars", Air have truly come up with a different take on the ever expanding and increasingle meaningless "electronica" tag. Interestingly, the best songs on this album are the ones that include guest vocalist Beth Hirsch. "All I Need" is the type of subtle and beautiful song that Dubstar only wish they could write. So no, they're NOT Daft Punk, they're NOT going to be huge. But they're still damn good. - Mark Pytlik

Morcheeba - Big Calm WEA

Second release from this band starts off with one of the more invigorating songs released this year. "The Sea" sounds like Eryka Badu singing lead for the Sneaker Pimps. This is a good thing. Lead singer Skye Edwards brings a wonderful and simple vocal style to these 12 songs, injecting them all with a certain wistful passion. Morcheeba successfully blends together elements of jazz, dance, hip-hop and pop into a cohesive and palettable form. Although Big Calm has it's dry spots (witness the horrendously boring Vanishing Point outtake that is "Bullet Proof"), it quickly re-asserts itself with gems like "Blindfold" and the absolutely brilliant "Over and Over". If understated is what you're looking for, this is your band. - Mark Pytlik