(3-track single/ 1998)
Mid late-90�s Whale released that track title to end all song titles, �Slobo Hobo Humpo Babe.� Or something like that. And aren�t they from the chilly Nordic regions? Guess I should get more of my background facts straight before writing like there�s no God, because there�s so much injustice in the world today� �Four Big Speakers� (is �Smoke a lot of weed� an order?) nurtures a queer concoction of easy-going rapped hip-hop and Housey drum-�n�-bass beneath a poppy melody, rendering the outcome disposably interesting. Whale are a better catch with �14 Rock Street,� alternative-rock mixing robotised vox with their female-fronting, silky voices. You can imagine them laying this feel-good track down in studio-time, leeringly sassy grins pasted from ear to ear. The less heady their music gets, the more engaging, before �Anywhere But Here� wanders way off the beaten track of commercialism, a stark Lo-fi beauty funkily backed by sweetly apish below-skin harmonies, lashed with wickedly rickety B-52�s pomp. With a Whale this musically inventive and innovative, there�s no chance of extinction for, what, a few more centuries yet. (And I love the gorgeous gal looking sus on the picture disc). (STEVE RUDD)
CONTACT WHALE� www.raft.vmg.co.uk/whale