The title of Steve Bug’s much anticipated fourth LP – released on Poker Flat Recordings – says it all. In a recent interview, the “Gentleman of Techno” explained that the underlying ideas put forth in the album were that he, “wanted to collaborate with several people. I wanted the album to include various styles and I wanted it to be an album that you can listen to at home more than once without getting tired of it.” Yes, the album title is self-explanatory, but it does seem important to emphasise this idea of multiple chiefs bringing together a collection of sounds when listening to Bug’s Collaboratory because, for this very reason – and without detracting from a very well put together LP – the album lacks the smoothness and seamlessness the listener might expect. However, if anyone’s going to pull off a concept like this successfully, then Bug’s your boy – he’s chosen a top-notch mix of producers and vocalists to work with.

The album opens with Bug’s own Trees Can’t Dance, with 80s electro-style synths layered over a chilled-out techy beat. It’s a nice, unobtrusive, almost disco-y track that gets you in the mood for discovering what’s to follow. A collaboration with Paris The Black Fu is up next, with an Octave One-esque intro that quickly dissolves into a headier kind of bass-driven underground vibe. Swallowed Too Much Bass has a nice Detroit sound going on, before making way for the sweet vocals from Berlin DJ, producer and vocalist Cassy on Strong Moment. With it, a more house-y kind of sound kicks in, and reappears again on a number of other tracks from here on in, including Like it Should Be and Trust in Me. From here, things go experimental, with Bug’s tempo-twisting You Never…, an odd little track that’s somehow mesmerising and confusing all at the same time. A short-lived treat at less than three minutes, but an easy one to fall in love with. The longer, seven-and-a-half-minute Month of Sip featuring Clé is slightly more hedonistic, before things become upbeat once more with Bug’s Mr Suitcase, my personal favourite from the entire album, with its happy and playful, paradise-island styles going on. The collab with Virginia doesn’t do too much for me – Trust in Me is like a subordinate house track that’s reminiscent of the beautiful sounds of Morgan Geist’s remix of Abraham’s Magpie with its soft lady vocals and intermittent bell tings, but it’s easy listening, all the same.

While the album works well as a whole. and it’s obvious the emphasis is on the collaborations, the winning tracks for me are the solo efforts from Bug that feature throughout – from the opening Trees Can’t Dance, to You Never…, and on to the finishing track Cherry Blossoms – these stand out among the rest as the strongest performers. In any case, they certainly tie the album together, and Bug’s decision to bookend Collaboratory with two of the aforementioned three was obviously a conscious decision. It’s a strong piece of work all in all, that not only stands the test of multiple spins à la maison as Bug hoped, but the listener might find high rotation necessary in order to fully appreciate each separate voice and style and input that comprises it.

Check out the tracklisting…

1. Steve Bug – Trees Can’t Dance
2. Steve Bug feat. Paris the Black Fu – Swallowed Too Much Bass
3. Steve Bug feat. Cassy – Strong Moment
4. Steve Bug – You Never…
5. Steve Bug and Clé – Month of Sip
6. Steve Bug – Mr Suitcase
7. Steve Bug feat. Virginia – Trust in Me
8. Steve Bug & Simon Flower – Passing Clouds
9. Steve Bug & Donnacha Costello – Still Music
10. Steve Bug feat. Gigi – Like it Should be
11. Steve Bug – Cherry Blossoms