** LTJ Bukem

PROGRESSION SESSIONS 5

(Good Looking)

Pity the loyalists of drum 'n' bass. Only two years ago, the imported genre seemed on the verge of revolutionizing dance music with its future-shock flurry of quick, cascading beats and mesmerizing dub hits, particularly with artists like Goldie, Roni Size, and LTJ Bukem emerging on these shores as underground heroes. Now, with little change in the guiding æsthetic, drum 'n' bass has withered in spirit, overtaken by trendier niches like deep house and the drum 'n' bass-derivative two-step garage. But God bless Bukem, who, along with his Good Looking Records posse, still thinks he's fighting the good fight and making strides in the genre. How else to explain the latest chapter in the long-running Progression Sessions? A mix-CD awash in lissome rivers of crystallizing breakbeats and soothing dancehall-like chatter (courtesy MCs Conrad and DRS), Bukem's latest Session can best be described as sincere, misguided, and -- here's the ultimate condemnation -- jazzy. Too bad it's not 1997 again, or Progression Sessions would seem to be the future of music all over again.

-- Joseph Patel