The Propellerheads establish their loop-based retro electronica sound with Decksanddrumsandrockandroll.

The album name sums up the sound of this album. It is full of loops, samples, and drum machines, but also manages to rock on many cuts.

Decksanddrumsandrockandroll has a spy theme. The cut, “History Repeating”, sung by Shirley Bassey, sounds like it could be the theme from a lost James Bond film. There’s also a techno remake of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. Even the cover has the Propellerheads walking away from an explosion, perhaps the secret lair of an evil techno mastermind.

The cuts vary from laid back grooves, to hard techno. An exceptional cut is Spybreak!, a number that was featured in the Matrix soundtrack. Other great cuts are Bang On! and Take California.

This is accessible loop-based electronica, and a tasty introduction to this type of music.