Music

DJ Baby Anne and Jen Lasher

Assault & Battery (System Recordings)

A A A Comments Thursday, Jan 26 2006

Orlando's DJ Baby Anne delivers the breaks end of Assault & Battery, and her fixation on deep, winding Miami bass results in a slightly harder product than Jen Lasher's electro half. The squealing laser-tag bursts of Product 01's "I Like It Now" are sandwiched between Anne's own "Freaks Groove" and "She's the Devil," and the latter's determined, trancey pulse seals up the strongest blend here. Sinister buzzes cut in and out of "Fear2" from Roxiller (U.K.'s Chris Carter and JHz), spelling out an atmosphere starkly opposite from the mood that underscores Jen Lasher's opener. "Heartbeats," the Knife's Swedish-born, synth-crazed '80s-nostalgia piece, makes a damn sharp first cut for the Battery half, even if it might garner Cyndi Lauper a handsome court settlement. Lasher's new-wave selections aren't as jagged as Baby Anne's picks for breaks, but the snide nods to "Personal Jesus" in her dark and interesting "No More Tears" slot trump the bulk of the lighter stuff that precedes it.