Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

The two guys from Virus mutate as the Bubblebaby Experience to present an instrumental album of catchy quirky dance music, yet Bubblebaby' is not a bubblegum experience. Taking in ambient sounds and strong rhythmic arrangements, there's plenty of creativity here to hold attention musically and beaucoup dc beats to keep you moving. My favourite is the absolutely marvellous "Slipstream" which has a moody opening which soon builds into a thumping dance-a-thon! Most fun is its chorus motif which uses the same sort of trick as the Human League's "Keep Feeling Fascination" a few years ago -a slightly off key synth to grab attention! Just brilliant! One of their favourite tricks is to start with a kicking rhythm track and then allow banks of swirling synths to build a frantic theme taking tracks to the max. This is best demonstrated on "Freedom" with its powerful rumbling bass and the opening spacy cut "Inside". "The Big Blue" and "VCO" have a slightly jungly feel, as does the epic title track which closes the album. The 'Bubblebaby' sound will wobble your bass bins while sci-fi sequenced sounds hover like ambient UFOs secreted in your speakers. Experience it!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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