So there's house for dancing and chillout for relaxing, but what if you want to unwind but not end up horizontal dreaming of the Café Del Mar? Enter Jakatta with his debut album Visions: not upfront enough to drag you onto the dance floor but certainly not drowned in contrived chillout synths and meandering downbeats. Having been DJing and making thumping music for many years under various guises, Joey Negro aka Raven Maize aka Dave Lee aka Jakatta has toned it all down and gone cinematic on us. His first hit under this moniker was the American Beauty sampling "American Dream", up-tempo and uplifting yet more ethereal than your average house tune. Much of Visions is made in a similar way, taking a good idea and running with it although depending on moods and personal taste, this can get a bit samey and start to sound like the same song repeated over and over again. The standout has to be the collaboration with Seal on "My Vision", same as the rest; nice beat, hook, bass etc but the vocal lifts it far beyond the rest of the album. -Georgina Collins.

Before joining the a-list as deskman to the likes of Madonna (Ray of Light) and the All Saints, William Orbit was a jobbing producer working with Laurie Mayer and Rico Conning as Torch Song through the eighties before producing his own instrumental material as Strange Cargo, the first volume of which was released back in 1987. This, the third in the series, has an eastern theme, which extends from the sleeve art through to occasional samples that cut through the bleeping electronics. It inspired an extreme of love it/hate it reviews on its release and was in fact dropped before finally seeing a release on Virgin. Despite all of this baggage, the album has grown to be the most widely acclaimed of the four to date, with the opening "Water From A Vine Leaf" featuring the vocals of Beth Orton the epitome of ethnic ambience while "Gringatcho Demento" clearly sets the seeds to the later Hinterland. Looking for an album that sits between trance, techno, dub and world music? Look no further - Kingsley Marshall.

Beaucoup Fish is Underworld's third studio album and sees them return to form after a slightly lacklustre second LP (Second Toughest In The Infants). Not that this latest missive from the famous trio (Darren Emerson, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith) possesses the same raw energy as their debut Dubnobasswithmyheadman, but it does benefit from differences such as more experimental use of sounds, slicker production and a generally more intricate feel. The albums opener "Cups" is a case in point, a subtle, fluid grower that sees Hyde's usually excitable vocals toned down and more ensconced in the mix. The trio show that they are still fond of pumping chemical onslaughts though with the redoubtable "Push Upstairs" and other thumping club tracks like "Jumbo", "Something Like A Mama", "Kittens and Moaner". The trio have obviously decided to try a few new things out on this LP too, such as "Shudder/King of Snakes", which starts with a wonky Oriental vibe before morphing into nine minutes of drum-fuelled propulsion and heavy sounds. Hyde's voice-which comes close to a kind of rhythmic scatting here-continues to stay low for the most part (though fans can still discern his nonsensical lyrics), becoming more assertive on tracks like the mellow, beatless Skym. Elsewhere, tracks like "Bruce Lee" sees Underworld experiment with a hip hop beat and some Dadaist vocals, and with some meandering breakbeat on "Something Like a Mama", though neither track seems to come off terribly well. If anything, this album proves that Underworld are best when they stick to their classic, distinctive club sound. -Paul Sullivan.

Second Toughest in the Infants came three years after Underworld's potent debut Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Following the group's massive Trainspotting soundtrack hit "Born Slippy", at first glance this offering seems to carry the same epic and elaborate edge of that huge hit. Opening with an opulent triptych called "Juanita", "Kiteless" and "To Dream Of Love"-three tracks which segue seamlessly into each other and form a quite splendid 16-minute Underworld-a-thon-the trio certainly weren't afraid to indulge when making this LP. The next track, "Banstyle/Sappys Curry" seems to confirm this, weighing in at an impressive 15 minutes, though this time nose-diving into some atmospheric, oceanic drum & bass a la LTJ Bukem. Throughout the rest of the album, Underworld alternate between assuaging their raging club beats with warm washes of sound and beatless splashes of colour, and offering more straight-up heavyweight club fodder. "Confusion the Waitress" carries a definite prog-rock feel in places, "Pearls Girl" takes a more breakbeat-fuelled route and is arguably one of the album's most thrilling moments, while tracks such as "Air Towel" are as insubstantial as their name suggests-flimsy, inconsequential "Detroitian" workouts lacking real punch. "Blueski" is a little better, straying as it does into an acoustic psychedelic roam while the final track "Stagger" is a similarly beatless meander, though more maudlin and electronic this time and featuring Hyde's best vocal performance of the album. Overall, there are some solid tracks here, but it's less sinewy and more indulgent feel make it not quite as essential as its predecessor. -Paul Sullivan.

Fatboy Slim has come a long way since his debut album, Better Living Through Chemistry, saw him bring big beat to the masses. His first offering of the new millennium, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars was his most ambitious project to date. Married life and impending fatherhood seemed to have made the original party animal grow up, and this was reflected in the new and improved sound-the banging floor-fillers being replaced by a more refined and adult sound, as he teamed up with Bootsy Collins and Macy Gray to bring a fantastic blend of funk and soul to the dance floor. His collaborations with Macy Gray are two of the standout tracks-"Love Life" and "Demons" effortlessly combine funky fluid beats and Macy's distinctive vocals with fantastic results. Jim Morrison even pops up, providing the haunting looped sample for the first single to be taken from the album-"Sunset (Bird of Prey)". Purist fans of his previous output won't be disappointed by his change of direction, as tracks like "Ya Mama" and "Mad Flava" are instantly recognisable as vintage Fatboy Slim-big of beats and samples. The sound of a man growing old disgracefully. -Helen Marquis.