Bomb the Bass Back to Light

• Words: Luciana Lopez
• Label: !K7
• XLR8R Rating: 6/10

Plenty of people have mentioned the supposed tropical influence on the new Bomb the Bass album. Granted, Tim Simenon worked with Brazilian Gui Boratto (and a host of other guests) on this follow-up to 2008's Future Chaos, and the resulting album is light and breezy. But Simenon has had a wide-ranging career over the past couple decades (he produced Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance" and Seal's "Crazy"), and what ties this album together isn't any sense of Brazil, but rather a more cinematic feel, best exemplified on the spacey "X Ray Eyes" and the spare "Happy to Be Cold." But the hands-down standout is closer "Milakia," featuring Depeche Mode's Martin Gore on synths.