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DANGERDOOM The Mouse & The Mask Lex ***

All-star hip-hop gatherings don't come more starry than this. Dangermouse made the headlines with both his lawyer-baiting Grey Album, which mated Jay-Z with The Beatles, and his production work on the last Gorillaz album, while MF Doom's skills as a MC were much in evidence on Operation Doomsday and his fierce Madvillainy collaboration with Madlib. What this meeting of the minds has produced is a hip-hop album that is long on invention and skittish colour. Thanks to Doom's trademark delivery, there's a plethora of tracks that flip the script in one way or another: few other rappers would bother expounding anti-gun views on a track entitled Vats of Urine, for instance. If you want to check the quality of Dangermouse's touch, The Mask and Old School will provide the most pleasure, while it's obvious such guests as Ghostface Killah, Talib Kweli and Cee-Lo relished their days out in the Dangerdoom cellar. www.lexrecords.com

Jim Carroll