Larynx
Tympans
Muscles
Cervelet
Vocal Chords
Poumons
Pancreas
Abdomen
Oesophagus
Pulp
Mlada Fronta Overdose: Medical Care For Abdomen
Ladbroke Overdose: Medical Care For Muscles

Eyeball
Rein
Urethra
Transit
Lobe
Tongue
Trachea
Artery
Nerve
Spleen
Haiku Overdose: Medical Care For Stomach
MG Overdose: Medical Care For Intestines

This epic double CD from French electroheads Milligramme on Parametric is the closest modern
electronica gets to a concept album. Packaged like a drug, it would sit happily on the pharmacist's shelf next to Foetus' Manorexia "Volvox TURBO" side-project, complete with a comprehensive list of adverse events, notes regarding length of treatment, batch numbers, license numbers and the heartwarming instruction: "EXCEED THE PRESCRIBED DOSES".

Milligramme present 20 original tracks here, and four remixes, all named (more or less) after features of human anatomy, and I don't think there's a bad tune amongst them. Disc one kicks off with the brash hip-hop assault of 'larynx' and 'tympans', which would not sound out of place on the roster of Parisian hardcore stable Cavage alongside such Gallic luminaries as Saoulaterre and DX Media. The tone is set for the disc as a whole; we are led through filter sweep after drum break of hardened funk, dirty instrumental trip-hop and arrogant techno, all delivered with operating-theatre precision. I defy the most restrained critic to sit through the car-crash scratch-and-squeal big beat of 'vocal chords' without wanting to jump around like a loon in baggy trousers and a baseball cap.

Disc (dose?) two is more laid-back on average, from the lilting Orbital chillout of 'tongue' to the Autechre-inspired 'rein' [kidney]. This is not to say that disc two is lacking in gonads, however; 'trachea' also evokes Sheffield's finest glitchmongers but outdoes them in terms of raw beat power, the blistering 'artery' reminds me of Dave Clarke but with added post-electroclash bounce, and 'transit' carves out a groove reminiscent of early Chemical Brothers or even a more intelligent Prodigy. Haiku and Milligramme themselves finish off the disc with remixes of 'stomach' and 'intestines', neither of which are on the album in their original formulations.

ABC