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MUSIC FROM THE 4TH PLACE

Music from the 4th Place V1 Beta Universal

Mark McCabe is a 2FM DJ and the producer behind that infamously appalling Maniac 2000 single, but you may not hold either of these musical crimes against him when you hear Music from the 4th Place. An album that happily looks both ways before crossing to the far side of the dancefloor, it has none of the expected trance parps or prog love-handles. Instead, it's a pleasing, if ever-so-slightly dated, paddle in the chill-out pool. Certain tracks will remind you of Groove Armada or even Zero 7 at their least esoteric (especially Stabilise and Lazybird), while Derrick Dunne's vocals on Aurora and Louise Byrne's trilling on Sunshine are perfectly adjusted to the low-key, unfussy and deceptively simple sounds going on around them.

www.markmccabe.com  - Jim Carroll