1. Enfant Terrible (Album Version)
2. I'm So Heavy
3. Handsfree (If You Hold My Hand)
4. Cabaret Short Circuit
5. Belly Bongo
6. Sorrow
7. Can't Stop Moving
8. Strange Things
9. Doing The Tango
10. No-Fi
11. Disastro
12. Sonnrise
Will the real Sonny J please stand up?
And no, that's not a cry in the style of Eminem, more the feeling that Mr J may have spread himself a bit too thinly on his debut album. For impressive though Disastro is in its command of styles far and wide, it often feels restless from the effort of trying to cover too many bases in one go.
In that sense it can be compared to the music of the Avalanches, but where they succeeded in spooning a myriad of samples, riffs and noises into the cooking pot, this sounds like a conscious effort to tick off boxes.
So while we have catchy helium pop in songs like Can't Stop Moving, which will either delight or annoy with its irrepressible grin, we also get stinkers like I'm So Heavy, which starts as an amusing phone call but winds up trying to be an electronic version of Tenacious D. And there's only one winner there I'm afraid.
Perhaps surprisingly Sonny J is more affecting when kicking back and slowing the tempo down a bit. Cabaret Short Circuit and Sorrow provide poignant examples of this, while the more song-based No-fi makes even more of an emotive impression.
Elsewhere I was struck by the feeling of being back in Brighton, circa 1999, at the height of the big beat craze. And it's true to say there's a big crossover between the likes of the Wiseguys and Sonny J. That does mean we shouldn't do him the disservice of missing out the fact he knows how to soundtrack a good party, with riffs aplenty that, in the better uptempo songs, could easily soundtrack a party.
It's just the feeling persists that party has been going on for sometime now, and that there are already albums on the shelves that have done this sort of thing. If the idea of a big beat revival excites then look no further; otherwise you'd be encouraged to stick to the real thing.