Fatboy Slim

Related Content

• The Six Greatest Britpop Songs You Don't Remember
  November 9, 2011
• The Top 10 Best Big Concerts I Saw in 2010, with Gaga, Green Day, Sir Paul, Pavement, and LCD Soundsystem
  December 17, 2010
• Saturday Night: Gorillaz Drag Out De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Little Dragon, and More for a Cartoonishly Fun Halloween
  November 1, 2010
• Top 6 Movie Parodies in Music Videos (Thanks, Foo Fighters)
  June 6, 2011
• In Print: the Subversive Beauty of tUnE-yArDs, Del the Funky Homosapien's Trip to Hip-Hop's Past, and More
  April 20, 2011

More About

• Fatboy Slim
• Norman Cook
• Damon Albarn
• Electronic Music

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

As much as you may hate to admit it, Fatboy Slim is a genius. From his own sampledelic songs to his slamming remixes, the British producer has an uncanny knack for making people sweat it on the dance floor. The only problem is that even geniuses get bored. On his fourth LP, the artist formerly known as Norman Cook seems far more interested in writing pop songs -- albeit electronically infused pop songs -- than dance material. The two outright techno bangers feel rote and dashed off, whereas the sun-kissed downtempo ballads and more traditionally structured pop numbers (featuring live instrumentation) are giddy and vibrant. Best-track honors go to either "Put It Back Together," a woozy soul tune featuring a joyously knackered vocal by Blur's Damon Albarn, or "Wonderful Night," one of two swinging, raptastic collabs with Oakland MC Lateef the Truth Speaker. Fatboy Slim once suggested he was "fucking in heaven." With Palookaville, he's still there -- only now he's moved heaven's locale from the dance floor to the living room.