*** Todd Terry

TODD TERRY RESOLUTIONS

(Astralwerks)

That Todd Terry, one of the originators of deep house, has moved to the Astralwerks label tells fans the bad news: he plays in the trip-hop electronics garden now. But there is also, in this 14-track CD, some good news, as one might expect of a master rhythm cutter like Terry: the beat always comes first. Whatever buzzes, blips, Jamaican toasting, or club-cut voice samples may turn up in tracks like "Todzilla," "Yo," "What'cha Know," and "I'm God (and there are plenty of sound effects piled and looped, like Art of Noise's Trevor Horn gone stir-crazy), the beat hits your face before any of it. Terry's beats stand close to the mike, like skin, a hundred hair and hive details touching it. But you can also taste that beat, its depth and animus. And if sometimes, as in "Buzzsaw," the beatwork merely repeats the Chemical Brothers', tracks like "Blackout," "Technic," and "What'cha Know" have a much more lowdown growl than the Chemicals are ever likely to make. Terry overstates his getdowns -- big-time. That's what counts, even if he's no longer working the satin disco darkside that made his reputation.

-- Michael Freedberg