Felix Da Housecat Virgo Blaktro And The Movie Disco

From its recent residency as the bona fide sound of the underground, electro appears to have suddenly become something of an elixir for figures of the post-prime and never-were variety; just ask Betty Boo or Princess Superstar, or, better yet, Luciana of swiftly-forgotten Transvision Vamp-a-likes Portobella. By rights, then, everyone that caused clubland to veer violently left into those Technicolor pastures in the first place should really be feasting on the spoils these days, with the man who brought you one of the fastest-out-of-the-blocks and most defining albums of the decade, 2001's Kittenz And Thee Glitz, gorging himself on a particularly fulsome portion, right?

You'd think so, but, puzzlingly, the return of Felix "Da Housecat" Stallings has been afforded less anticipation than the current Simian Mobile Disco or Chromeo offerings in spite of the fact that there ought to be a huge convergence of fandom there, and its low-keyness in an age when Princeliness is one again next to godliness is further bizarre. Nonetheless, there's an awful lot on show here to suggest that the polishedly-pawed one is enduringly worthy of being hunted down; Radio, for instance, is a compellingly circular salvo bolstered by layered vocals a la I'm Not In Love and latter-day Kraftwerkian keyboards, Monkey Cage shuffles lushly alongside some of the finer points of his oeuvre by virtue of being a catwalk thwack underpinned by an encroaching alarm, Moviedisco surfs through somewhat poignantly on a decidedly subterranean setting, Like Something 4 Porno! redeems its air of ludicrosity with some guitar that's just obscene in its funksomeness... We could go on, but you'll be getting the idea.

In fairness, it's probably worth pointing out that this isn't quite Stalling's most consistent endeavour, quality-control-wise: there's a severe vocoder overload, he's developed a worrying tendency to lop tracks when they appear to still have some life in them (though given the bloatedness of some of this year's electronic collections - Alog and Paul van Dyk spring to mind here - that's not such a bad thing per se), and occasional tracks, notably Pretty Girls Don't Dance, are aiming troublingly beyond their reach. Then again, he does round things off with one of '07's great triple whammies. Tweak is the equivalent of Higher State Of Consciousness having an unfettered showdown with La Rock 01, with all the hyperventilating violence that involves, Night Tripperz is a welcomely blissful homage to mid-80s European synth-pop, and grand finale The Future Calls The Dawn recalls the incessant rumble of California Uber Alles while incorporating some truly brain-widening filtration, which is as thrilling as you'd hope.

It may lack the preposterous conceptual ambition of its predecessor. Now may not be the kindest of eras where dance veterans are concerned. And this probably won't be enough to win him a collaboration with Kylie or Madonna. No matter - first and foremost Virgo Blaktro & The Movie Disco is proof that Da 'Cat remains among the cream of today's techno types; lap this up accordingly.