Search - Howie B :: Turn the Dark Off

As a behind-the-scenes guru on U2's Pop, Howie B tried and pretty much failed to teach the Irish superstars how to catch a techno groove. On his latest solo album, he continues his quest to educate the mainstream, offering a class in Electronica 101. But his efforts pale in comparison to those of his protégés in the London trio Headrillaz. A veteran of Bristol's influential Soul II Soul collective, Scottish mixmaster Howie B knows that he is poised post-Pop to reach the biggest audience of his career. Last year's Music for Babies was a charming ambient effort inspired by the birth of his daughter, but it didn't garner much attention. With Turn the Dark Off, he opts to present a sort of Whitman's Sampler of current electronic sounds, including solid but unsurprising samples of trip hop ("Hopscotch"), drum & bass ("Fizzy In My Mouth/Your Mouth"), and ambient house ("Limbo"). For the benefit of those older listeners who are still having trouble with this new-fangled music, Howie B includes "Take Your Brother By the Hand," a track co-written by former Band leader Robbie Robertson. It features Robertson reciting pseudo-Beat poetry ("Where am I, on this elevator to nowhere?") over a strange and slinky groove, but it never really establishes a mood. Overall, Howie would have been better off focusing his considerable talents to hone a particular sound, as he did on Music for Babies, rather than dabbling half-heartedly in a lot of them. --Jim Derogatis