ALPHABEAT The Beat Is... (2010 UK 11-track CD album - Alphabeat's new album, 'The Beat Is...', has its eyes dead set on the horizon ahead and is full of great songs built on properly affecting retro-pop styles. You'll have heard the Mantronix-like funk-pop of first single 'The Spell', but there's the slippery filter-house of 'DJ', the piano-riff-meets-speaker-rattling bassline of 'Hole In My Heart' and the RnB touched, down-tempo reach of 'Q&A'. You might go for 'Chess' with its fantastically pointed opening line, 'Baby let's quit playing chess, you've been to my address…' and pitch-bend vocal samples rarely heard since 1989. Right near the end of the record is the epic, euphoric bliss of 'The Right Thing' where a Black Box style big piano screamer tumbles down a huge great chasm of a breakdown. No need for a remix – everything you'll ever need is right here!)