Fatboy Slim

Where other electronica whizzes chase dance microgenres down futuristic blind alleys,
Norman "Fatboy Slim" Cook mines riffs from every era like a hip-hop DJ. His big beat kicks
down the velvet-rope exclusivity of drum-and-bass or two-step garage to welcome
everyone, rockers and funkers included. "I'm gonna hold my cool, 'cause the music rules,"
P-Funk's Bootsy Collins states in "Weapon of Choice" on Fatboy Slim's new album,... More >

As someone who's about as intimate with modern dance music as the radio jocks and collegiate punters Slim accesses with such drunken disregard for subcultural niceties--and who believes house divas are only slightly smarter, popwise, than Slim's fellow sot Jim Morrison--I say this is where Norman Cook achieves the nonstop stupidity breakbeats alone could never bring him. One great idea per song, from anywhere--embellished, of course, with all the sonic tricks he's filched and made his own. "What duh f*ck" muttered to infinity. A retox anthem whose time has come. Macy Gray B-in', C-in' and F-in' ya. And for that essential soupçon of soul: a Wet Willie sample! All shallow, all pure as a result--pure escape, pure delight, and, as the cavalcade of gospel postures at the end makes clear, pure spiritual yearning. Transcendence, we all want it. Good thing Cook knows most of us aren't deluded enough to want it all the time. (Grade: A-)