Near Life Experience

This, folks, is nice. And different. And laid back. And funny. And cute. Frank Bolaers & Brice Berard (let’s call them Electroslide) ditch the guitar-friendly techno of their previous output, in favour of a Parisian-tinged funk-hop with tongue firmly in cheek and samples aplenty.

When these guys are on fire, they are on fire – the music gets wonderful, the vibes are perfect, the production first class and the mood one of a relaxes, smokey velvet-lined room on a summer evening. Sleaziness aside, they flirt with cop show imagery, take on trip hop (for historians: style of music that disappeared up its own arse in mid 90′s), bring in dub and sweet street soul, and fuse plenty of colour into proceedings.

At other times, there is a tendency to drift off into the background, but frankly when the background’s as nice and quirky as this, who’s complaining?