This album came out two decades ago. Here’s what I had to say about it back then (with some minor editing):
There are a million dance-music duos with a million EPs, featuring a million songs built from a million trip-hoppy chillout beats and a million silly vocal samples. Yet few are as superb and satisfying as this collection of tracks from U.K.’s Lemon Jelly.
Perhaps it’s because these musical partners are a cut above the basement-band amateurism of their competitors — producer and multi-instrumentalist Nick Franglen has knob-twiddled for everyone from Primal Scream to Björk, while Fred Deakin mans the wheels of steel at clubs cooler than I’ll ever be allowed into. That experience seems to give the pair the confidence to build their smooth, shiny grooves from simple, sleek samples and rhythms. Eschewing showoffy clutter and pumping beats for a gentle, supple flow, these nine numbers originally released on three EPS make you want to stretch out and relax. That is, if the soothing, self-hypnosis sample from an old Reveen album didn’t make it clear enough already. Talented, tasteful, cocky and intelligent? Yep, they’re one in a million.
