Sensual Cobra , Bikini Season in Lebanon

8.5765 out of 10.

Sounds like : Atari Teenage Riot via My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult

Music's Good For : Overthrowing the Establishment; making love to said Establishment

Berlin troublemakers Sensual Cobra (Mark Gladdenhand and Noah Wilson) have been away from the game a while; their last full-length album was 1999's poptronic manifesto, Frozen Seas Inside Us -- a big hit in European dance halls that made barely a splash in the states.

They haven't been totally out of the limelight, though, with a high-profile remix appearing on the XXX soundtrack and several tours with The Yakuza Explosion. Reportedly, they spent most of the last 6 years in the studio, perfecting the sound that would become Bikini Season in Lebanon .

And it shows. Loyal fans will appreciate the pair's attention to detail; if anything, their production has gotten more meticulous since Frozen Seas , a feat many listeners thought impossible. Though some found that album cold and distant (perhaps fitting a disc called Frozen Seas Inside Us ?), Bikini Season showcases a warmer sound that maintains the discipline of their earlier work. While methodical, the disc is never sterile.

Again, guest vocalists abound. Shirley Manson of Garbage leads one of the most interesting tracks, the warbling dirge "Bourgeois In the Undergrowth," through four minutes and thirty seconds that seem always on the cusp of decaying into noise, but somehow never do. Her voice ranges from a chirp to a low growl, pinning the song to the floor. Give credit to Gladdenhand and Wilson for seeing the potential in Manson, who never gets that kind of freedom with Garbage.

Of course, there's the politics. You can't discuss Sensual Cobra without talking about their politics, which poke through on every song, yet remain inscrutable. The two have written songs for the right-wing rap-metal group The Captains of Industry, but their own politics are more complex, a chimera of Frankfurt School Marxism and post-colonial theory. (Everyone likes to play "Spot the Frantz Fanon Reference" while listening to this album.)

Politics aside -- if you do need to put them aside -- Bikini Season in Lebanon is a welcome return by the masters of German synth-house.

-- Stephan Raiser