Darla Records

The new Momus album, Joemus, is a collaboration between the veteran electronic vaudevillian and Joe Howe, a young Glasgow breakcore musician known for his work with Gay Against You and Germlin. Asked, back in 2007, to do a cover version for a limited edition box set called Recovery, Momus called on the young Scot's services to make a cover of David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes, which turned out "not so much a pop song as a ping pong match between Coco the Clown and Major Tom... a series of satistfying thwack and plock and boiiiiiing noises," according to Momus. The Bowie cover isn't on Joemus, but the Nintendo Glam Rock feel -- and the odd noises -- persist. The pair worked over the internet, then spent several weeks together in Berlin fine-tuning the results. The Joemus album sounds like the hits of 70s Scottish glam rock sensations The Bay City Rollers played on 80s amusement arcade equipment. Joe's frenetic, ADD-addled jams get turned by Momus into folk jigs, but the fast numbers alternate with tenderly morose slowies, covers of Cliff Richard ballads and Ryuichi Sakamoto croons. Then it's back to the beats-and-edits frenzy, and tales of horror, from Dracula (a duet with Groopie Kyoka Kyoka) to Ichabod Crane. The result may be the most satisfying pop album Momus has ever made -- but only if your definition of pop tends to the edgy, jumpy, fresh, and weird.