A bulging bag of bargains and a Death In Vegas

A day before the dismally-named That's Entertainment disappeared from Manchester's Market Street, I bagged myself a bulging bag of CDs for a few quid. I spent ages sifting through their alarming quantities of Christian rock music to find the best clearance albums I could.

The bargains I bought included Apollo 440, Dust Junkys, a whole bunch of Moby, Hardfloor, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Jam & Spoon, Fun-Da-Mental, and Dead Elvis by Death In Vegas. I felt I had bought the 1990s.

That was a while back. Since then, it's Death In Vegas (DiV) I have played the most. Dead Elvis isn't perfect, but in the middle of the album is a triple-decker smashdown of Dirt, Rocco and Rekkit. This felt like the absolute height - and heart - of big beat.

In 1997, I saw DiV support the Sneaker Pimps at Manchester University Student's Union. The Pimps bashed out their brace of hits, so note perfect that Six Underground might as well have been played on a tape. But support act DiV, with their debut album barely a few months old, tore the roof off the place. One of my happiest gig memories. The Pimps never stood a chance.

DiV have a new album out called Transmission: it's very different, although you can hear the intensity of Rekkit on the towering second track Consequences Of Love.

In the meantime, back to Dead Elvis and that dirty trio of 1990s techno perfection. Have a listen.