Space Raiders

Weirdly self-deprecating and less insistently funny, coming only a year away from their maligned debut, Hot Cakes was a convincing realignment of attitude and style. The Space Raiders undertook a surprisingly inconspicuous approach to defunct big beat while increasing its complexity with an efficient appraisal of absurdly old audio equipment and song-derived dance structures. "Animal House" and "Middlesboogie (U Gimme Hot Love)" were touching tributes to electro house instead of one-off sample punchlines, but never without surprise booty bass triple-twists and real emotional humor. Like an effortless version of the manic funk pile up of labelmates Lo Fidelity Allstars, Hot Cakes was a welcome sequel and a bizarrely entertaining source for dub-laden, Indian fluted, campfire/pub anthems. ~ Dean Carlson, All Music Guide