With some of the biggest of techno's big beats and samples recognisable to any self-respecting '70s AOR junkie, Apollo 440 is an electronic act which combines rock culture, futuristic and technological imagery with a sound-system attitude into a high-gloss sampledelic package. As a reference point, think of Crystal Method on a Zeppelin trip. ELECTRO GLIDE IN BLUE, their full-length debut, is the kind of techno album any rock fan could love.
Start with "Ain't Talking About Dub", which marries a classic Eddie Van Halen riff with some jungle beats to spawn a triple-time, heavy metal romp in a bass-heavy vacuum; move onto "Altamont Super-Highway Revisited" where a dirty electric slide guitar plays on top of a seething techno throb; or feel the "Tears Of The Gods", a boogie shuffle reminiscent of John Lee Hooker fronting a Santana-on-hip-hop rhythm, before exploding into dubbed out Spinal Tap-ish fireworks. When fusing the rock and electro worlds, the Apollo crew can be shameless--big, bigger, biggest sounds dominate, whereas understatement has no place in their world-- but such shamelessness is also the reason ELECTRO GLIDE is among the most successful of the next-school nuptials. Call them the Run DMC of electronica.|
Rovi