This album has a very generic electronica feel. That is, it is very typical of 2002, blending sounds from The Orb, The Thievery Corporation, and Moby. In fact, it really sounds a lot like what The Thievery Corporation do, only with a few nods towards Moby's mega-smash Play.

Not that this is a bad thing. I mean, i really enjoy The Thievery Corporation. Their brand of groovey downtempo electronica with a hint of dub thrown in is just the thing for late night listening. Telefuzz also fits nicely into that time frame.

However, i can't help but wondering if three years from now i'll look back on this disc as being wholely derivative. Kind of like i now look back on those Olive and Amalgation of Soundz (both generic trip-hop from about 3 years ago, riding the wave that started with Portishead) albums i own with a modicum of embarrasment. Are Telefuzz the same?

I suspect so, but only time will tell. And truth be told, there are a couple of really nice moments on the disc.

I particularly like Chariots For Hire (And before you ask, yes, most of the song titles are puns.) This song is a nice, almost ambient piece built of synth drones that remind me of something off of a Nova special about the Mayans: that low droning flute sound. This is coupled with some really spacey computer noises that sort of float by hazily. In addition, One Hundred Light Years of Solitude has a lovely horn sample and a great head-bopping beat. It does break into a really cheesey guitar bit (sampled from some 80's hair metal band perhaps), but otherwise is pretty cool.

Three tracks stand out from the flow, mostly due to the prominant use of vocal samples. The first of these is The Needle and the Homage Done (ouch! Neil Young is rolling in his grave over that pun!). It starts off with a longer bit of Sam Kennison talking about John Belushi's death. That uplifting moment fades out into a funky groove that reminds me of a sped-up Heights Of Abraham, complete with shapeless female vocal and funky piano.

Two other tunes use prominant vocal samples: Voyage of The Dawn Wigger and If The Vice Is Right.... These are the two tunes that most show Telefuzz's Moby influence. Voyage of The Dawn Wigger is based around a vocal sample that could have been taken from the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Or maybe that song off of Play that you heard constantly last year. I never learned the title (not a big Moby fan personally), but you know the one: it sounds like an old african-american spiritual set to a slow dance beat. This song sounds just like that.

If The Vice Is Right... has samples that are taken from, i think, the Comedy Central show Dr. Katz. At any rate, it is a whole bunch of little stand-up pieces tied together with a blurrly drum loop and some wandering synths. It's a nice enough tune. However, it's towards the end of the album, and i find that i kind of zone out to the album, and then the comedy samples shock me awake. Additionally, in the last three minutes of the song, there is a really annoying, poorly cropped sample of some old jazz singer repeating "Till you know you've been abused, you ain't never had the blues" surrounded by early 60's TV-style horns (think the Batman TV show). This sample keeps looping at a seemingly random interval, and quite frankly gets really really annoying after the first 3 seconds. Urgh.

Otherwise, Telefuzz have done a nice job of creating a fun chill out disc. The thing is, it really sounds like a melange of all sorts of other things i like with a bunch of random vocal samples thrown in. And that makes me wonder if it will age nicely.

I kind of doubt it.

So, if what i have described above appeals to you (that is, you are familiar with the acts i mention) this is a pretty good (if not very creative) disc in that same vein. If you have no idea what i am talking about, then chances are this disc isn't for you.