The tagline to Samuel L. Session’s Myspace page is ‘music is not about standin’ still and becoming safe.’ Well I think most of us would agree with him. Though whether his new album The Man With The Case particularly sticks to this maxim, is wholly more divisive issue.

For many, Samuel L. Session is a European techno legend. The Swede began mixing hip hop with early house, and techno in the late eighties. He soon gained recognition for producing high quality and cutting edge music, releasing on respected dance labels like Planet E, Soma and Intec.

But don’t fret! If you haven’t heard of this dude, you’ve probably danced to his music. Maybe on one of those random nights out when you end up in a club you didn’t intend to finish the night in.

Having paid too much to get in you’re determined to have a good time, despite the sleazy sofas, and the sticky, beer swilling bar that you’ve already put your unwitting elbows on. And the pounding house beats… it thumps and thumps, and thumps - a precursor to your already developing headache.

You begin bobbing to this beat. You know - this repetitive house beat – you begin bobbing repetitively. Hmp sss. Hmp sss. Hmp sss – it goes and it goes on - Hmp sss. Hmp sss. Hmp sss. It will go on long into the night, long after you leave.

It’s house music. And to the average punter, this album will sound like fairly average house music. The exception is opening track ‘Time’, which features gracefully chilled beats, and ambient excellence. But then the record descends into a repetitive groove that it never escapes from. I hate the term IDM (or intelligent dance music), but when you listen to this record you realise why it was coined. If Aphex Twin and Squarepusher are the geekily cool techno-wizards of the electronic age, Samuel L. is the plodding Neanderthal.

Only the hardcore-DJ-heads amongst us will find this pretty groovy, ambient stuff. If you’re not one of those delightful people however - approach this with caution.

James Labous