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SCORPIO RISING
(SANCTUARY)
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Death in Vegas is the name under which British DJs Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes have been collaborating for the past half-decade. Theirs is an eclectic æsthetic — a shotgun marriage of rock, techno, and psychedelia — that has helped make electronica palatable for the masses while keeping both Fearless and Holmes on the A list when it comes to hip remixes. Scorpio Rising refines rather than redefines their rockist techno formula, with the salient help of a number of guest-star vocalists. The disc opens instrumentally, with the block-rocking beats of "Leather/Girls," but before long the droogish Liam Gallagher is in on the action, delivering one of his best vocal performances in a long time on the title track, which is awash in a sea of backward guitar lines, gurgling synths, and a sample of a riff from Status Quo’s classic "Pictures of Matchstick Men." Mod icon Paul Weller is along for the ride on the equally rocking "So You Say You Lost Your Baby," a technofied take on Gene Clark’s folk-soul rave-up buoyed by Hammond organ licks and a tasteful string arrangement. Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star lends her ethereal presence to two numbers, the narcoleptic, trancy "Help Yourself" and the Mazzy Starry–eyed alterna-country ballad "Killing Smile." On their own, Death in Vegas take a few missteps: "Hands Around My Throat" and "Cocaine and Gin" evoke the frosty excesses of the ’80s, without the warming buzz. But for a pair of DJs steeped in the instrumental side of songwriting, Fearless and Holmes demonstrate a fine taste in singers.
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