Still at the Nightclub...

With downtempo/trip-hop on indefinite life support since the late 90s, DJs who have capitalized on it were put into 2 camps: continue to duplicate the formula laid out by Massive Attack, Portishead, etc., or bring something different to the tables and hope their music finds an audience. After Vertigo, their second and breakthrough album, Groove Armada opted for the latter approach on their following album, Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub). As the title implies, the album favored funkier and more dance-oriented tracks over the jazzy, downtempo grooves found on most of Vertigo.

Though critically mixed, Groove Armada, made up of Brits Andy Cato and Tom Findlay, must have been proud of Country enough to essentially repeat it on Lovebox. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but more of a step sideways than forward for the usually innovative group. Perhaps as a conscious effort to remove the label of "Downtempo DJs," Lovebox opens up with "Purple Haze," the album’s heaviest track, which layers the hip-hop vocals of Nappy Roots and MC Red Rat (What? Your MC name is Red Rat?? Is that a British inside joke I just don’t get?) over a guitar riff that wouldn’t be out of place on the Dazed & Confused soundtrack.

Granted, the group has not completely alienated fans of Vertigo who skip "I See You Baby" and "If Everybody Looked the Same," probably because they’ve already heard it countless times in commercials. 2 highlights of the album are also the most sedate. "Remember" comes off as "At the River" (Part II) and features the London Community Gospel Choir and strings by Urban Soul Orchestra. No, I’ve never heard of them either, but if your name is as cool as Urban Soul Orchestra, you better deliver. (They do.)

"Think Twice…." Starts off with a live piano that, assuming all laws of time and space could be suspended for the purpose of this review, DJ Shadow would’ve used on Endtroducing… And is that Neneh "What else have I done since ‘Buffalo Stance’?" Cherry singing beautifully on vocals? Nice.

While these tracks are incredibly lush and soulful, the theme of this album remains funky. As on their last album, Groove Armada add hip-hop, house, and dancehall with mixed results. (For the latter, my stereo actually gave me a "What the fuck are you listening to??" look as the dreadful, ragga-influenced "Final Shakedown" was playing.) But funk dominates the essence of most tracks and, consequently, this is an album made to keep your night going. Burn the best tracks from Country and Lovebox and you have a great album without the filler found on both.

Jason Newman