*** Buckfunk 3000

FIRST CLASS TICKET TO TELOS

(Language)

Buckfunk 3000 is one of the many guises of London-based electronic auteur Si Beggs (he's also gone by the name of Big Foot and Cabbage Boy). Like Richard D. James, a/k/a Aphex Twin, Beggs uses the name game to defy easy categorization. On First Class Ticket to Telos, his first Buckfunk 3000 full-length, there are shades of Ninja Tune-style DIY cut-and-paste hip-hop ("For Funk's Sake"); and with "Planet Shock Future Rock," he nods in the direction of Afrika Bambaataa's seminal Kraftwerk-meets-P-Funk track "Planet Rock," mixing arcade bleeps and buzzes against a background of soulful vibes. Elsewhere, you can hear Beggs working some pre-jungle hardcore on the squelchy, rhythmically complex "Panic Button" and reliving some of the happier moments of '90s techno in "First Class Ticket to Telos." Beggs understands that good funk is about having fun while making a mess of the music.

-- Doug McDonald