The spiralling, spliff-happy songs of 2001's Hot Shots II hung in the air so long they could have grown a beard.
Now the Anglo-Scottish sonic scientists have taken control of their marriage of Sixties' pastoral psychedelia and arthouse electronica, condensing 12 self-produced songs into 42 minutes that address themes of human warfare, governmental mediocrity and "loving you to pieces".
More than any other boundary-pushing British band, these wayward wonders drive you nuts; still baffling and enchanting in equal measure in shape-shifting music that changes the more you listen to the likes of Lion Thief, Out-Side and Space Beatle.
The Beta Band remain as elusive as fog, as tantalising as a kitchen aroma, as deceptive as a magician's sleight of hand.
They rumble, they ramble, they swing like a student between energised and enervated. Just sometimes, you wish for a rocket in their socket to make them hit the heights of Primal Scream.
Updated: 09:17 Thursday, May 06, 2004
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