Beta Band, Hot Shots II (Astralwerks) 9+
Scotland's Beta Band sound like filthy hippies who slapped together so many influences from their massive collection of dog-eared gate-fold sleeved albums that once the smoke from the weed has cleared, no one could remember what was borrowed and what was stolen. So successful was the effect on the compiled The Three EPs that confounded critics could only blurt out comparisons to Beck's cut-and-dice approach. Their highly anticipated 1999 self-titled debut was a disappointing incomprehensible mess that the band notoriously disowned. Hot Shots II puts on corrective lenses that focus nearly to a fault, with a smooth R&B shine buffed by producer C-Swing (En Vogue, Phoebe One). The seamless mix and separation are so tight as to be nearly disorientating. The band's previously eclectic found-sound style is now snapped into a singular lock groove, with only the faintest hints of influences like early Pink Floyd and, strangely, in their soft-voiced choruses, The Association and The Who (several Who relics can also be spotted in the fold-out sleeve amongst the Beta Band paraphernalia). That said, the album contains many great songs, subtly enhanced by electro beats, like the two-step turned ragga of "Broke," and the highly entertaining juxtaposition of Harry Nilsson's "One" with a hip-hop funk groove in the closing number "Eclipse." The lyrics of "Daydream" betray their hippy tendencies, "Daydream/I fell asleep beneath the flowers." Which makes Hot Shots II appropriate for both clubs and picnics.
