Koop: "Sons Of Koop" (Colombe D'Or) Proving once more that it's not where you're from but where you're at, this debut from the Swedish duo Magnus Zingmark and Oscar Simonsson was conceived on an isolated archipelago 200 kilometres north of Stockholm. Sons Of Koop is a delicious surprise, putting a new spin on slo-mo sounds and fusions simply by putting a different set of influences into the pot. Instead of soundtracks, easy-listening kitsch and old-school hip-hop, Koop prefer Satie, Miles Davis and Gil Evans; Glomb even samples Debussy to produce chilled, gorgeous effects and moods, while Absolute Space has thrills on a different downbeat slant to entice you to come closer. Like Kraftwerk they have a worthy cycling fixation: Bijarne Riis was inspired by the first Scandinavian to win the Tour de France in 1996. Probably the best musical thing to come out of the 1998 European City Of Culture all year. Jim Carroll
Lo-Fidelity Allstars: "How To Operate With A Blown Mind" (Skint)
How To Operate With A Blown Mind sounds just like it reads: a booming collage of mutant distorted genres, from disco to hip-hop, all striving to make their presence felt in the midst of sonic carnage. It's to the Allstars' credit that the album actually gels into a coherent, if sleazy, shape rather than mish-mashing into a mess. Naturally, the three singles are the most palatable, thanks perhaps to familiarity (Kool Rock Bass remains an essential high-phat beat gem) but there are other tracks here which up the ante considerably. The title track is dark and dense, a glimpse into hell as seen from London's Holloway Road, while Battleflag is a crazed whiteboy George Clinton boogie. A grand leap into the unknown. Jim Carroll
Various: "A Perspective 1988-1998" (JBO) The Junior Boys Own label has been at the forefront of dance music for the last 10 years, introducing the world to the wonders of The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, the Ballistic Brothers and a host of other movers and shakers. This double album not only cherry-picks some nuggets from the label's back-pages but also includes a host of remixes by JBO artists and producers. If you've mislaid your copy of Andy Weatherall's take on My Bloody Valentine's Soon, or the rollicking Fire Island mix of Junior Vasquez's Get Your Hands Off My Man, look no further. Label diamonds to admire once more include One Dove's sultry Fallen, the Chemical Brothers' My Mercury Mouth and the embryonic glee of Bocca Juniors' Fallen while, for Underworld devotees, there's a rarely spotted remix of Simply Red, Big- mouth from the trio's Lemon Interupt alias and a driving reworking of Bjork's Human Behaviour. Jim Carroll
