Two lone swordsmen -- former Primal Scream producer Andrew Weatherall and production partner Keith Tenniswood -- make the sort of expressive electronic music one could see Radiohead's Yorke listening to. On their fourth album, Tiny Reminders (Warp), they tap into the futuristic funk legacy of eighties electronic-music icons like Juan Atkins and Afrika Bambaataa, but they skirt nostalgia by melding the buzzing hum of dark-side drum 'n' bass, crunching two-stepping beats, and strafing techno. There's real body to Two Lone Swordsmen's body rock. . . . When New Orleans rapper Mystikal growls "Watch yaself!" on "Shake Ya Ass," he channels James Brown in a way no hip-hopper has. But the Neptunes, who produced most of his new album, Let's Get Ready . . . (Jive), dig even deeper into the Godfather's legacy, by creating the sort of snaky horns and polyrhythmic drum patterns that made the insistent funk of "Pass the Peas" and "Monorail" staples of samplers everywhere.

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• Archive: “Music Review”
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