Electribe 101

★★★ Electribal Soul ELECTRIBAL. CD/DL/LP

Billie Ray Martin-fronted electronic quintet’s second LP surfaces after 31 years in the wilderness.

Despite charts hits, a global tour supporting Depeche Mode, and remixes by house legends Frankie Knuckles and Marshall Jefferson, Electribe 101’s fractious relationship with manager Tom Watkins, still smarting at Pet Shop Boys’ defection, stopped Electribal

Soul in its tracks. Essentially a continuation of 1990’s comedown debut Electribal Memories, pitched at the shady nexus where ’60s soul and Kraftwerk collide, Hamburg soul siren Billie Ray Martin’s distinctive quivering timbre dominates A Sigh Won’t Do and Deadline For My Memories, exquisitely bruised tales of loss and regret. While Martin has mined other highlights since – Throbbing Gristle cover Persuasion (with house duo Spooky in 1993), the snazzy soul of Moving Downtown (as Running Around Town on 1996’s solo debut) – these lambent pop-house first takes, brimming with subtlety and soul, cut deepest.