Propellerheads - Decksandrumsandrockandroll

You know how I wrote that whole thing about The Prodigy and how they do the whole electronic music thing the right way? Well, Propellerheads do it even better than The Prodigy. I freaking love this album and I don't care who knows it. I bought it during my rave phase, and it's one of the few albums of that period I don't regret.

Here's why I love this album: it has a much more lively sound than most electronic music. Propellerheads use actual drums on the album, which is somehow a groundbreaking move for an electronic group. They also pulled off some amazing collaborations. They have this fascination with Bond films, so they pulled Shirley Bassey out of nowhere and laid down "History Repeating" which is an amazing song regardless of your opinion of electronic music. They also collaborated with David Arnold on a wild treatment of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (an underrated Bond film, by the way). Not only that, but they have no problem pulling out some hip-hop collaborations. De La Soul lays down one of their very best tracks in "360° (Oh Yeah)", which features a skateboarder riding a bowl as part of the percussion on the track. It's inventive and a perfect example of why I love this album. Jungle Brothers also lay down some very fine hip-hop on the album's closer. Decksandrumsandrockandroll is filled with interesting textures and snippets. There are elements of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, and straight up rock and roll (there are guitars on this album. No kidding. One of the reasons I think I love Propellerheads is the fact that they don't abide by all the electronic conventions in which actual drums and guitars are off limits). Anyway, this album is relentless in its awesomeness. Oh, and how could I not mention the similarity between the cover art and this video? Yeah.