Beck - Cell Phone's Dead (Interscope)

Taken from his album The Information, this single opens with electronic tribal beats, swirls and jungle drums that slowly give way to the singer's unique rapping as background vocal samples inform us "one by one, I'll knock you out" before receding into the darkness. It's not quite a strong enough hook to ensure chart domination, unfortunately, but he'll probably get by okay regardless, particularly with lyrical quality such as "Beats are broken/Bones are spastic/Boombox talkin'/With a southern accent", which he intones as we slip into the voodoo night.

There are echoes of early 80s synths throughout, but it's more recent samplers like Four Tet he's paying a debt to here. If this is what we can expect from the album, it's going to be a joy.