WOEBOT

V/A
FLO-MOTION VOLUME 2
KUDOS

Conceived as a sampler and compiled by Nick Luscombe (who has been running the Flo-Motion show on XFM for five years on a "innovative yet accessible" tip) only artists Johnny Trunk and Thomas Fehlmann from this collection could be described as coming strictly from The Wire "zone." It would be wrong, however, to dismiss Luscombe's endeavor out of hand. It's striking how the slinky often jazz-inflected grooves contained herein by relative unknowns by the likes of Husky Rescue, Solar Apple Quarktette and Sebastien Tellier manifest an alternative future to that travelled by The Wire itself, which ten years ago was content to put Coldcut on the cover.

"Accessible" is surely the key word, and the Coldcut comparison isn't idle. Many of these tracks could easily feed into a Solid Steel show, for instance the Alice Coltrane veering into Keith Jarrett vamps of Maki Mannami's "Moon Palace" might slot into one of their more ambient sections. Likewise there are acceptably high quotients of Dub and Techno in Nathan Fake's "Dinamo" and One Deck and Popular's "Inner Space." Ultimately it's telling that Johnny Trunk's "Zeus", with its residual strains of car-boot-sale must, stands proud over the slightly painful mellifluousness of the thing.

While it's often remarkable how the celebrated present is infinitely skronkier than the hallowed past; for instance it's hard to imagine how with today's strict agendas the oeuvre of artists like Scott Walker and Brian Eno would gain admittance to the canon. This noted, the toothless rootless beats of Flo-Motion Volume 2 probably strain the case for serious consideration. Its particular selection is a shame given the fact Luscombe's show often treads a more adventurous path.