Various Artists
(Rapster)
Maybe the tribute record isn’t your scene. Doesn’t matter if you’re a Bowie fan; there have been very few efforts released in the United States anyway; even fewer with artists of substance other than Crash Course for the Ravers (Magnetic Fields) and Contamination (Dresden Dolls). That’s part of why Life Beyond Mars is such a lovely relief, what with house music maven Carl Craig rocking out to “Looking for Water” and symphonic micro-technocrat Mathew Dear blipping through “Sound & Vision” leading the line up. The other part of why Mars is a charmer is that, well, it’s an alarmingly charming record influenced by the most fascinating aspect of the Bowie catalog — the electronic one. That doesn’t mean that all songs here come from his electro-trilogy (though tracks like Richard Walters’ clicking “Be My Wife” is). But the best, like the softly curling “Oh! You Pretty Things” by Au Revoir Simone, have been simmered in the gravy of Bowie’s juiciest sound. Such a sweet thing, sweet thing.
Standout Tracks: “Looking for Water” (Carl Craig’s Zoos of Berlin), “Golden Years” (Susumu Yokota) A.D. AMOROSI
