Slam - Sci Fi Hi Fi Volume 5

Greater things should have come from this album. It doesn’t seem to be sure whether or not it’s a Slam album or a mix album by Slam. It just sounds like more of the same. While the beats, breaks and electronica themselves are fine, it’s too much in love with itself to work properly. There are some highlights in the mix such as Poxy Music’s War Paint and Slam’s own What’s On Your Mind but these are lost in a sea of bland mediocrity. The album doesn’t gel the way mix albums really should and whilst many of the tracks are fine on their own terms, they seem to work against, rather than for each other. The somewhat thin sound doesn’t help either, nor do the dated Latin beats scattered throughout the disc. The Slam boys need to decide whether they’re DJs or businessmen these days. Not bad, just very disappointing.[Jonathan Robert Muirhead]