CD: Idjut Boys - Cellar Door

The Idjut Boys are a London DJ/production duo who, like peers such as Optimo, Ashley Beedle, Tom Middleton or DJ Harvey, are not corralled by the electronic pulse that rules dance music. Like many good DJs of their generation, they veer towards the spirit of acid house, but they plug a wide range of other, often older, music into that feeling without drifting off course.

The pair of them – Daniel Tyler and Conrad McConnell - have been around for 20 years, running labels and parties, cutting tunes, DJing the global circuit, but are claiming this is their first artist album, despite long-playing collections under various names over the years. Fair enough, it is arguably the first one that actually plays like a proper album.

As a whole, it fits easily into the original Balearic beach idea, margaritas and marijuana at sunset

What it sounds like is that they hung out with a bunch of their mates, mostly including Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones, once of Balearic pioneers A Man Called Adam, and the Norwegian jazz pianist Bugge Wesseltoft (Cellar Door is on smart Oslo label Smalltown Supersound), and then got seriously stoned. They likely didn’t but that’s the groove they hit. If that sounds downtempo and boring, it’s true that this easy-flowing music is laid-back but it’s not some bunch of chill-out noodle.

Most of Cellar Door is based round strummed acoustic guitar but this usually combines with bubbling beats and effects, Rodgers' vocals on “Shine” and “The Way I Like It”, Pink Floyd vibes on “Lovehunter”, a delicious lazy reggae lilt on “Le Wasuk”, and the gentle tribal roll and stylish Wesseltoft jazz-classical piano on “One for Kenny”, dedicated to another sharp DJ peer, the late Kenny Hawkes. As a whole, it fits easily into the original Balearic beach idea, margaritas and marijuana at sunset, yet it belies the slack stereotype, maintaining a cheeky, driving dynamic ticking away at its core.

Listen to "One for Kenny"