All Seeing I

The peculiar title and cover art should serve as good warning: the music here sounds like it could be a strange inside joke. Conceived as a tribute to Sheffield, England, this band is made up of a whole collage of artists anchored by “I,” which represents three DJs who came together in this industrial city — home to techno super-label Warp (one of the three DJs, Parrot, used to be in Sweet Exorcist). Vocals are supplied by other Sheffield natives such as Philip Oakey (Human League), Baby Bird and none other than Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker who gets the songwriting credit for most of this album, alongside the mysterious “I.” All in all, there are about 13 people collaborating on this release and it shows. We get everything from good pop tracks, such as Oakey’s “1st Man in Space,” to curious attempts at drum & bass penned by Bono on “Beat Goes On.” There’s also some lounge pop in “Walk Like A Panther,” garage house on “Sweet Music” and lots of quirky techno. An odd mix? You bet. There are definitely groovy moments on Pickled Eggs & Sherbet, but it’s hard to tell if this is for real or not. Regardless, this certainly makes for interesting listening.