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Snorkel are a collaboration of Ben Cowen, Charles Stuart, Tom Marriott, 129 (who had a hand in the exceptional ‘Pussyriders’ by Urban Haiku) and Frank Byng who are’s assisted on Stop Machine but Slowfoot luminaries like Robert ‘Inscape’ Logan, Lucas Suarez, Luke Wills and Ralph Cumbers.

The opening title track and the next, ‘Dead Skin’ (the only one with vocals by Charles Stuart) are fine examples of how experimental electronic music with a touch of jazz can merge the dance floor boundaries of club dubstep and Radio 3.

‘Edgar’s Hoover’ is not only a clever play on words (damn, I wish I’d have thought of that) it’s leftfield experiment (inspired by the sound of the vaccum cleaning) and drum’n’bass warp factor gets a look in on ‘Driller’. These two are not that far off Amon Tobin’s ISAM and with ‘Wet Tongue’ (with Marrriott’s trombone lead and cosmic synth leanings) being pretty funky (not like pure P-Funk of a Bootsy Collins (as in Tha Funk Capital Of The World), you understand, it’s all a little bit out-there.

Funnily enough, up to now you can almost smell the trombone of Don Drummond and the short, but perfectly formed ‘Dark Star’ has a heavy skank to it.

And for the last two tunes, ‘Loophole’ and ‘Jellyfish’, Snorkel find their collective [Slow]feet sound.

Slofoot might not be the most prolific label in the world but from what I’ve heard, they always release quality and Stop Machine is no exception.

Reviewed: Snorkel- Stop Machine (Slowfoot) Cat. No: SLOCD015 Release date: 9th May 2011
Tracklisting:
1 Stop Machine (5:03)
2 Dead Skin featuring Charles Stuart (5:25)
3 Edgar’s Hoover (4:00)
4 Wet Tongue (6:54)
5 Driller (6:14)
6 Dark Star (2:52)
7 Loophole (6:10)
8 Jellyfish (4:44)

Links:
www.myspace.com/bandsnorkel
www.slowfoot.co.uk
www.myspace.com/robertlogan
www.myspace.com/129mc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover