*** Alice Deejay WHO NEEDS GUITARS ANYWAY? (Republic/Universal)

The transatlantic kitsch-house crossover express has been working overtime this past year, making giddy stops in Spain (Vengaboys) and Italy (Eiffel 65); now it hits the Netherlands with Alice Deejay. Alice is the name of the group, not the girl singing their international smash "Better Off Alone" -- and though there's a crazy-looking naked chick on the CD cover and a gorgeous club kid on the inset, the liner notes don't exactly elaborate on the identity of this "ever expanding collective." Whatever: the icy vocals and cool one-fingered Casio beeps (lifted from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack?) on "Better Off Alone" are enough to earn the disc its prestigious spot on the rack between Alice Cooper and Alice in Chains. On "Back in My Life," the beat drops out in the middle to make way for a nifty little synth breakdown and a solemn recitation that recalls British hitmakers Faithless.

Alice Deejay keep the words to a minimum and the sentiments happy throughout, throwing a melancholy piano line into the instrumental title track and getting euphoric on the not-quite-triple-entendre of "Everything Begins with an E" (the word and the night, maybe, but not the song -- it begins with a C). They needn't have bothered with the contentious album title; their case for Eurohaus would have been convincing enough without it.

-- Sean Richardson