Layo and Bushwacka! Night Works
(XL)v **

Dance music is going through a creative lull, which is even affecting the usually reliable likes of Daft Punk and the Chemical Brothers. Layo and Bushwacka! at least provided an intriguing diversion by building their recent club smash Love Story around the dunderheaded bassline from Devo's 1977 freak anthem, Mongoloid. On Night Works they continue this approach, but mine the other side of the punk/prog-rock divide, dipping into Soft Machine-style saxophones and Tangerine Dream synth-guitar solos. One track, We Met Last Night, is so reminiscent of German rockers from the 1970s that you can almost hear the creak of lederhosen. Sadly, their quality control is as haywire as their record collection. Blind Tiger - blues samples, scat jazz and an electro groove the size of the Grand Canyon - is superb, but too many tracks are merely anonymous tech-house, like that heard at their resident London club The End.