- A few things to know about Luke Vibert: he's a joker, he doesn't care about rules and he can make just about anything. Every fan has their favourite side of Vibert. For some it's his own favourite, Wagon Christ, one of the original aliases marrying downtempo, hip-hop and breakbeat together. There's Amen Andrews (junglist Vibert), and before that Plug, which is more drum & bass. Kerrier District, the "loose, live and wonky" disco alter ego, was picked up again this year. And of course he's such a master of acid that a club night and label was named after one of his classics. Vibert's even been known to make a dubstep track or two as Spac Hand Luke—before it was called dubstep, of course.
When Vibert appears under his given name on Planet Mu, any and all of his many sounds can come out. That's exactly what happens on Bizarster: it's all on there. The joker is in full force, and despite sweating over sampling issues when I spoke to him back in May, here he is ripping Phil Collins ("I Can Phil It") in highly polished tongue-in-cheek fashion. Vibert pulls off silly with style, and in many points throughout Bizarster you can feel him grinning. It's infectious; by the album's end, you'll be smiling, too.
When Vibert's in playful mode it can be incredibly gratifying. "Doozit" really does it: the sunset Hawaiian guitars, the jazz drums, the upbeat way of being downtempo, the splashes of dub, the sample ("Whoo, alright, did you like that?") that marks a seamless transition into huge soundsystem music—as if out of nowhere—before jumping back to dub and cocktails on the beach.
Vibert is a collage artist, making new landscapes out of old odds and sods. Some may see it as a weakness that his music is living in the past, but it's nostalgia delivered in shifting dimensions. They're almost timeless for that—a Vibert mashup never truly belongs anywhere. Bizarster does jungle ("Don't Fuck Around"), acid ("Manalog") and stacks of that Wagon Christ-like stuff he makes 90% of the time—the stuff he claims "no fucker wants." On the contrary, they're some of the album's best moments. Vibert's turned in a brazenly colourful, glitter-dusted and streamer-throwing affair, so have fun with it.
Tracklist01. Knockout
02. Officers Club
03. Hey Go
04. Ghetto Blast Ya
05. I Can Phil It
06. Manalog
07. War
08. Bizarster
09. Power Press
10. L Tronic
11. Doozit
12. Don't Fuck Around