** Lo-Fidelity All Stars

HOW TO OPERATE WITH A BLOWN MIND

(Skint/Columbia)

This English chart-topping, club-sanctified dance act takes the computer-programmed, funk-tinged, arena-sized, hip-hop-scented sounds of the Fatboy Slim big beat and adds real guitar, bass, and drum to the mix, along with a healthy dollop of keyboards and old-skool hip-hop samples. So it's no surprise that the material was originally released overseas on the profligate Skint label, the veritable Motown of Big Beat electro boogaloo. But whereas their Skint labelmates, including Fatboy Slim, have been pumping out hysterical, kitschy-koo sound bombs, the Lo-Fidelity All Stars saturate their US debut with nothing more than loud aerobic jams. The group's drug-addled dance-floor manifestos seem to be reaching for something like a pre-millennial Happy Mondays. But the disc's anomalous vocals -- apparently an attempt to provide big beat with a human face -- are irritating conspiracy theory rants that mistake Mad Libs for prophesy.

-- Patrick Bryant