The latest releases reviewed.

ARMAND VAN HELDEN Ghettoblaster Southern Fried ***

Van Helden is the New York producer who turned Tori Amos into hothouse property a decade ago and then went on to unleash a string of own-brand boom tunes such as Flowerz. Van Helden's best tracks have always been funk phenomenons, dancefloor bangers that ooze a sleazy kind of sex appeal and a ton of old-school style. On Ghettoblaster, he's taking it back to the 1980s, revisiting the hinge when hip-hop and rock began to make a little room for house. Van Helden knows this terrain very well, so there are nods to Todd Terry (Still in Love) and hip-house (All Nite). But he can also fire up the anthems, and NYC Beat and the Fat Joe-aided Touch Your Toes come close to his previous efforts in this regard. It won't turn him into a Fatboy Slim or Basement Jaxx (though a Van Helden carnival would be a sight to behold), but Ghettoblaster does cement his rep as a producer with volume galore. www.southernfriedrecords.com JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: NYC Beat, Still in Love