For the last 10 years or so, German electronic artists Mouse On Mars have defied the conventions of labeling. Since their 1994 debut Vulvaland, Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner have morphed their sound with every release and have always stayed one step ahead of the techno pack. Their follow up albums, Iaora Tahiti and Autoditacker were two of the greatest electronic albums of the 90's and it seemed like Germany had their most consistently great electronic group since Kraftwerk. But when I heard that Mouse On Mars next project was going to be an album where every track had vocals and was more pop oriented I damn near screamed out of agony. What made this group fantastic is the fact that they don't bow down to this type of conformity.

On the plus side, all the vocals are handled by newest member/percussionist Dodo Nkishi and guest vocalist Niobe, both of whom handle the vocal duties with care. They never seem out of place, and for the most part they work quite well, especially Niobe's icy cool vocals on "Send Me Shivers." But there are a few lapses on "Radical Connector" that border on unoriginality that I never thought Mouse On Mars would ever be capable of. "Wipe That Sound" is a flat out Daft Punk rip off, and "Spaceship" feels like a Basement Jaxx copycat until that cool drum & bass beat takes over about 2:30 in. Near the end of Radical Connector though, most of the kinks are ironed out, and by the last track, the epic "Evoke An Object," Mouse On Mars have their mojo back under control.

Fortunately, Radical Connector isn't a contrived mess like I thought it would be, but it is their most inconsistent record to date. On the other hand, to make only one mediocre album in a 10 year span is quite a feat, especially in this watered down techno world we've become accustomed to.