Vertigo

Groove Armada: Tom Findlay, Andy Cato.
Additional personnel: Gram'ma Funk, M.A.D., Sophie Barker (vocals); Keeling Lee (guitar); Dominic Betmead (scratches).
The Kick Horns: Simon C. Clarke (flute, alto & baritone saxophones); Tim Sanders (tenor saxophone); Roddy Lorimer (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Like U.K. contemporaries Faze Action, Groove Armada combines a love for classic disco, funk, and hip-hop with accomplished musicianship. Andy Cato and Tom Findlay supplement their breakbeats, samples, and occasional raps and vocals with bass and trombone. Unusually for a member of a dance music outfit, Yorkshireman Cato played in a brass band as a teenager before becoming a successful jazz musician.
VERTIGO has a distinctly "Balearic" quality-eclectically influenced and representing styles from ambient house through hip-hop, disco, and house. "I See You Baby" is fun, exuberant disco, while "Pre 63" is moody, loping funk with some great flute and trumpet playing. The hit single "At the River" is a sumptuous chill-out, its ethereal vocal refrain and washes of brass treating you to an Ibiza sunset. "If Everybody Looked the Same" is an irresistible slice of breakbeat house that, alongside Basement Jaxx, serves to remind that interesting things can still be done with house music. VERTIGO deserves the critical acclaim it has received. The album is varied and sophisticated enough to satisfy even the most discerning of dancefloor dilettantes.