SOLID GOLDIE

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

MUSICIANS HATE TO BE CATEGOrized, but few actually have the courage to defy labels that have been assigned to them--after all, it's hard to sell records if people don't know what they're buying. Goldie, however, is a true misfit. The son of a British mother and a Jamaican father, the deejay and producer has established himself as an underground star in England's insurgent "Jungle" scene--a musical form featuring resonant bass lines and expressive, sometimes relentless percussion. But his new CD, Timeless, is a challenge to the boundaries of this still nascent music. Mixing elements of techno, jazz and soothing ambient music, Goldie's compositions defiantly slip the grasp of any one genre and instead slide back and forth between high-energy passages that make you want to dance and quiet interludes that make you want to assume the lotus position and meditate--or at least daydream a little.

The title track, running a daunting but--amazingly--never indulgent 21 minutes, explores several moods. It opens with a slow, spacey passage, migrates into a faster section featuring the jazzy vocals of Diane Charlemagne and peaks with an extended percussive explosion. You & Me, the final track and the CD's most alluring, is a lush number with a lovely piano introduction that gives way to clear, cool vocals by Lorna Harris. The lyrics are lousy, like something John Lennon might have tossed off on a bad day--"You and I/ Like birds we'll fly"--but an invitingly eclectic musical environment is created. Wander in and find yourself transported to a downtown dance floor. In Tibet.

--By Christopher John Farley