Lost Horizons

11/01/2002 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Ken Micallef

Formerly known as LemonJelly.ky, the English duo of Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin make the electronica equivalent of Winnie the Pooh, pabulum and Gerbers. Their friendly dance tracks bounce, frolic, and stumble; happy beats and silly samples leaving you laughing and sated. Lemon Jelly has a weakness for topping off zesty beats and Willa Wonka textures with stuffy spoken word, hence the ironic reading of "Ash, wood, metal" in "Elements" and the mantra, "You look like a million dollars" in the rollicking "Spacewalk." Two travelers discuss their plans in "Ramblin' Man" as rustic harps bubble over skipping beats and angelic flutes. "Experiment No. 6" employs crackling vinyl and static for its beat while a doctor diagnoses a tiny patient. In the race to make the biggest beats and freakiest sounds many IDM merchants end up staring up their own bunghole. Lemon Jelly returns the music to the people, to the kids, to the tiny tot inside each of us.