artist: Groove Armada country of origin: UK style(s): Lounge, trip hop, funk, house, soul essential releases: Vertigo (1999, Jive Electro) Goodbye Country Hello Nightclub (2001, Jive Electro)

Despite the mountains of dodgy chill compilations out there it should never be forgotten that during chillout's commercial apogee in the UK and Europe around 2000-2001 some very fine albums were released. With roots deep in US house music Groove Armada (DJ's Andy Cato and Tom Findlay) might have seemed easy targets when the inevitable backlash came, given the tendency of house audiences to put fashion and style ahead of substance. Listening to Groove Armada's second and third albums now, however, I hear nothing less than two classic works of modern eclectic lounge music.

Vertigo is the album that cemented the duo's reputation, applying slick house production aesthetics over a broad canvas of instrumentals, vocal and part-vocal tracks. The duo's organic and always rhythmic sound encompasses landscaped synths, funky basslines and guitar, hip hop breaks and scratching, percussive bongo grooves and dreamy ambient tunes. It's a sample-heavy album and those samples are often brilliantly deployed. Some are gleefully obscure. Only fans of 1940's and 50's jazz/pop would spot the snatches of crooner Dick Haymes on the wonderfully soaring, minimalist midtempo funk of "Inside My Mind", for example. Likewise the looped Patti Page vocal that rides the luscious strings of "At the River". Other borrowings are much more recent; despite its live funk guitar the sublimely layered instrumental "Chicago" would be a very different thing where it not for a couple of uncredited samples from The Chemical Brothers.

The pair's live trumpet/trombone playing can be stunningly pretty. Check its sweet tones on the shimmering instrumental "Dusk You And I" and, again, the profoundly euphoric trip-hop lounge of the pair's most famous song "At The River". There's a few aberrations; two conventional hip hop vocal numbers and the gimmicky club hit "I See You Baby" which, despite a sassy rap from guest Grandma Funk, is totally devoid of both bassline and chords and thus any funk whatsoever. Funky house? Oh stop it. "At The River and "Inside My Mind" excepted, it's the instrumentals that provide Vertigo's heart and soul.

Despite its title and a few extra 4/4 house tracks Goodbye Country Hello Nightclub offers plenty of slow-to-midtempo lounging. While there's a far bigger ratio of live musicians to samples, Cato and Findlay lend the same inspired production creativity and studio tricks to another broad range of songs and instrumentals. "Little By Little" starts as a slow, cinematic breakbeat tune with strings and piano before brilliantly segueing into a warm folksy song by guest Richie Havens. Gorgeous strings elevate the slow liquid funk of "Lazy Moon" and "Edge Hill", two of Groove Armada's finest instrumentals. The Top 40 vocal hits "Superstylin" and "My Friend" flirt with Jamaica and Cream-style rock respectively and remain two of the more credible songs still floating around on FM hit radio.

The two other original albums released to date are non-essential but still have their attractions for anyone who fell in love with the duo's classics. The debut Northern Star (1998) is an interesting sample-fest of funk and soul sources with lots of housey beats and quirky effects, rougher production-wise and more narrowly focused than slick exotica to come on Vertigo. The disjointed Lovebox (2002) tries too hard please everyone and forgets about the art of making an album. The increasingly high profile guest vocalists (eg. Neneh Cherry) can't hide its lack of shape, flow and subtlety. The more rocking uptempo sound occasionally works and is a probably a reflection of the duo's evolution into a full live band playing to big audiences. The enveloping ambience of yore rarely surfaces with one stunning exception. "Remember" is a flat-out masterpiece of widescreen trip-hop, based around a vocal sample from ye olde folk rockers Fairport Convention and drenched in massive string swells and a beautiful gospel choir.

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