Daddylonglegs

Howie B collaborates with like-minded sonic innovator Jeremy Shaw on these coarse breakbeat grooves from their 1999 debut album Horse. Downplaying synthesizers, gritty guitars and overwrought drum-machines to a reasonable head-nodding level that refrains from sacrificing the listeners' cerebrum cells, these amply intelligent grooves are not above rolling out generous doses of low-key Funk. Lukewarm, unusual melodies spiral tightly like a staircase in an M.C. Escher painting, while edgy guitars keep their amorphous complaints short but timely and well-stated. Bulging basslines handle ceramic breakbeats with care, allowing their creamy shine to peek through like the reassurance of a toddler spotting her security blanket in the backseat of a car. Revoking Big Beat's self-granted camp license, Daddylonglegs' proves that beat fiends have brains, too.