Stop The Panic

Alternative Press - 3 out of 5 - "...Merry and whimsical....Vibert's one of the few experimental electronic producers whose tracks also work on the dancefloor....many tasty musical morsels..." Magnet - "...An accomplished techno album that doesn't take itself too seriously....It's just good, clean fun...all of it so silly and pretty and just plain alive that you can't help but smile." Muzik - 3 stars out of 5 - "...a novel collaboration....displaying music to match the concept - the almost r&b-shaped chic of 'Hipalong-Hop' and '60s-esque Blow Up grooves of 'Party Animal'..." Spin - 7 out of 10 - "...it's the kind of lovely symptom that justifies the disease of casual collage....the record never settles into a lone tone or musical mode....breezy, cheesy, and uneasy all at once." CMJ - "...a highly original sounding collection of tracks that fuses infectious urban breakbeat/hip-hop grooves and space-age funk with easy-going blues riffs and earthy melodies....a sound as timeless as it is timely." Entertainment Weekly - "...Jungle breakbeats and raps mingle with Western-swing licks for an album of delightful diversions: background music that keeps leaping to the fore..." - Rating: A- Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...the 2 intermingle styles, easing into Hawaiian, Asian and rural-American modes...with energy, composure and charisma....excellently unforced..." Mojo - "...may be the best thing either has done, a rewarding alliance of eclecticists whose tracks recall the sonic tableaux of LEs Baxter and Martin Denny, with breakbeats and techno figures furnishing the rhythms....suprisingly diverse..." NME - 6 out of 10 - "...a congress of gear whore and man of steel....fashioned of beats, liquid guitar, little black boxes and big band swing....serious goatee-tugging..." Melody Maker - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Luke cooks up the 'Look, Ma! I'm on top of the speakers!' meaty beat treats, allowing just enough room for BJ to drizzle his wibbly, grass-skirt-wearing, glissando 'git-arr' all over the top. Yum!..." Rolling Stone (3/30/00, p.64) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...the 2 intermingle styles, easing into Hawaiian, Asian and rural-American modes...with energy, composure and charisma....excellently unforced..." Spin (4/00, pp.196,198) - 7 out of 10 - "...it's the kind of lovely symptom that justifies the disease of casual collage....the record never settles into a lone tone or musical mode....breezy, cheesy, and uneasy all at once." Muzik (1/00, p.111) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...a novel collaboration....displaying music to match the concept - the almost r&b-shaped chic of 'Hipalong-Hop' and '60s-esque Blow Up grooves of 'Party Animal'..." Mojo (2/00, p.100) - "...may be the best thing either has done, a rewarding alliance of eclecticists whose tracks recall the sonic tableaux of LEs Baxter and Martin Denny, with breakbeats and techno figures furnishing the rhythms....suprisingly diverse..." Alternative Press (5/00, p.112) - 3 out of 5 - "...Merry and whimsical....Vibert's one of the few experimental electronic producers whose tracks also work on the dancefloor....many tasty musical morsels..." Magnet (6-7/00, p.95) - "...An accomplished techno album that doesn't take itself too seriously....It's just good, clean fun...all of it so silly and pretty and just plain alive that you can't help but smile." Entertainment Weekly (2/11/00, p.74) - "...Jungle breakbeats and raps mingle with Western-swing licks for an album of delightful diversions: background music that keeps leaping to the fore..." - Rating: A- Melody Maker (2/29/00, p.48) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Luke cooks up the 'Look, Ma I'm on top of the speakers' meaty beat treats, allowing just enough room for BJ to drizzle his wibbly, grass-skirt-wearing, glissando 'git-arr' all over the top. Yum!..." NME (2/5/00, p.28) - 6 out of 10 - "...a congress of gear whore and man of steel....fashioned of beats, liquid guitar, little black boxes and big band swing....serious goat

Pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole does make a bizarre foil for Luke Vibert (or is it the other way around?), and the strangeness of this collaboration is reflected here in the music. Vibert certainly has his trip-hop hat on here (his drum-and-bass forays are noticeably unplugged), but that doesn't mean he's forsaken the many styles he messes with--eclecticism is the name of the game on STOP THE PANIC.
Ergo, there's the jazzy bloopfest of "This Stuff is Fresh", the faux big-beat of "Dischordzilla", and the synthetic luau-funk of "Fly Hawaii". Cole expertly dances around Vibert's warped rhythms and oddball sounds, contributing plucked refrains of pedal steel and sitar, especially on the dizzy "Cheng Phooey", where Vibert lays down a nicely loopy beatbox riff and interstellar electronic blips under Cole's prickly strings.|