Paranoid London

★★★ PL PARANOID LONDON. CD/DL/LP Big name hook-ups bolster acid house purists. Paranoid London glower at slick, modern house music and shake their heads in admonishment. Deploying the sort of 303 bass lines, oscillating wave forms and relentless energy pioneered by mid-’80s Chicago pioneers like Phuture and Sleezy D, Paranoid London’s protagonists – Quinn Whalley and Gerardo Delgado – have enticed a clutch of star names to aid their quest. Arthur Baker and, in one of his last projects before his death, Alan Vega get their hands dirty on Angel Of Hell, which finds the Suicide frontman incanting disturbingly over a frantic melee of squiggle and handclaps. Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio adds his raw poetry to Cult Hero (Do You Wanna Touch Me), summoning up the ghostly Hi-NRG of Man Parrish in its process. While there’s a suspicion that the album format isn’t their natural habitat – only the melancholic shuffle of (Vi-Vi) Vicious Games veers away from the acid template – the sinewy, skeletal intensity here has a creeping allure. Stephen Worthy