*** Brooklyn Bounce

IN THE BEGINNING

(Edel America)

"Progressive attack! This is the beginning!" So burps the funkadelic voice that powers this German-made Eurohouse CD. Let's call In the Beginning's 14 cuts "rhythm-and-rhythm speak": deep-octaved synth riffs and even deeper-octaved voice riffs -- the basics. But the basics, as Matthias Menck and Dennis Bohn apply them, do not mean unvarying repetition any more than in rockabilly (an equally basic, equally open-ended genre). Menck and Bohn sequence voice and synthesizer this way and that, combinings that veer from harsh metal sound effects to high, pinched synthesizings at tempos faster than most US dance fans like but that are de rigueur in Eurobeat. From "Feel My Energy" and "Take a Ride" to "The Night" and "Pump It Up," the pair vary their attacks far more than the limitations of a two-step seem to allow, until the dancer (who owns only two feet, after all) feels himself centipedal, able to dance, and become, anything he dares. Produced by Art of Noise's Trevor Horn, this is the year's most useful Eurodisco CD.

-- Michael Freedberg