(Marine Parade/Inertia)

UK breaks DJ and producer Adam Freeland has clearly got some "cruising down the highway" LA sentiments flowing through his veins since relocating to La-La Land. Tad tricky to explain this – Cope is the second album under Freeland’s name, but the man’s moniker this time is the official title of a band, with vocalist/bassist Kurt Baumann as lead singer. That said, Cope is a guest-heavy enterprise, with The Pixies’ Joey Santiago, The Distillers’ Brody Dalle, Devo’s Jerry Casale, Marilyn Manson’s Twiggy Ramirez and Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee among the names contributing. Instead of the landmark rock/dance collision it’s aiming to be, Cope is nothing more or less than an electronic producer creating a buffed-up, genre-hopping record which has its moments, but no momentum – and a slick but unsatisfying professionalism at its core, as if soundtracking video games was as much of a priority as making quality music. The album lurches from LCD Soundsystem-esque floor-fillers (Under Control, Morning Sun), before flitting indiscriminately with a range of genres from mellow shoegazing electronica (Wish I Was Here) to thunderous synth/drum symphonies (Mancry, with Tommy Lee banging percussion in the background). The guests frequently entertain but are also somewhat distracting, like Death In Vegas’ similarly star-studded Scorpio Rising. Therefore, the Casale-starring Only A Fool (Can Die) is great fun, but sounds like a new Devo manifesto/anthem just bunged in the middle of the record. So much disorder, so not everything can be good – thus a cover of David Essex’s Rock On is crushingly ordinary. But there’s evidence here to suggest the new Freeland combo would rock the house live and, for all the album’s hollow diversity, the bangin’ Under Control and the sleek electro-funk of The Best Fish Tacos In Ensendada are among about half a dozen tunes that truly convince.

**½

MATT THROWER