Colours

Too many drum'n'bass artists rely on obvious clichés, leading critics to dismiss the genre on the whole as repetitive. Like Roni Size before him, Adam F hopes to change all that, adding some intriguing spice to the typical, skittering breakbeats-meet-bottomless basslines sonic stew. Opening with the blaxploitation funk of "73" — chunky wah-wah guitar, bopping congas, rollicking drumbeats and all — Adam F makes his desire for diversity clear right from the get-go. Drum'n'bass is merely the template from which he launches his heady sonic excursions, flowing seamlessly from the straightforward jungle of "Metropolis" into the brilliantly accessible soul of "Music in My Mind," which boasts dreamy keyboards and a vocoder melody Midnight Starr would kill for. The rest of the album is similarly diverse, from the ambient atmospheres of "Mother Earth" to the strangely gorgeous pop of "The Tree Knows Everything," which features vocals by Everything But the Girl's Tracey Thorn. For purists, there's also a Grooverider remix of "Dirty Harry" and Size's reworking of "Circles," but Colours offers something to please just about every techno fan.