Antenna

by Kingsley MarshallStuart Cullen followed Hi Ryze's contribution to the Electronic Projects subdivision of Paul Arnold's respected Certificate 18 label with some skeletal breakbeats of his own, his debut album following up from his superb Tonic extended player in its combination of broken percussion with lo-fi melodics and waif-like synths. Overheard snatches of sound hold the whole thing tentatively together, his Antenna taking in everything from answering machines in "Message From the Bigman" to forgettable TV chitchat and the unmistakable Peter Cook. This is far from an album of Scanner and Aphex Twin-inspired oddities, however, with Pilote's defining characteristic in his ability to humanize the electronica through an underlay of emotive funk.