Dirty Vegas

Partway through the debut disc from previously unknown Brit trio Dirty Vegas, a track came on that had this amazing familiarity. Then I got it - that Mitsubishi ad with the girl pop locking in the front seat to a dark, vocodorised, down-tempo dance track. So I should have dismissed them as commercial fodder, especially since the advert resulted in a top ten debut down in the U.S. But 30 seconds was just a tease, the full seven-minute version of "Days Go By" is undeniable. I miss the days when dance tracks were widespread and memorable enough to become anthems to a vast cross-section of people, instead of part of the unending stream of same-sounding dance floor bangers and chill-out snoozers. Unfortunately, the rest of the vocal-filled, molasses-slow album is less assured, at times becoming boring and overly obvious. It's poppy enough to hook the mainstream but not quite Morcheeba-charming enough to retain the rest of us. But damn, I do really like that commercial.