Track Listing

1. Warming up the brain farm
2. Kool roc bass
3. Kasparov's revenge
4. Blisters on my brain
5. How to operate with a blown mind
6. I used to fall in love
7. Battle flag feat.Pigeonhed
8. Lazer sheep dip funk
9. Will I get out of jail
10. Vision incision
11. nightime story

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110108 in Music
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.co.uk Review
After the Brighton-based label Skint hit pay-off with the irrepressible party animal Fatboy Slim, they were in danger of being typecast as a novelty dance label. How To Operate With A Blown Mind, in this comical arena, proved an audacious debut: crafted by a seven-strong ensemble that fused the dynamics of a dirty funk to the seismic pulse of some very big beats, it brought an attitude of high seriousness and menacing ambition to Skint's lunatic party. "Blisters On My Brain" and "Kool Roc Bass" are both excellent demonstrations of the Allstars in full ruffian's flow, with frontman The Wrekked Train tossing out sneered insults and Burroughsian nonsense in equal measure. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

its like a ray of sound
This record came out around may 1998 and soundtracked that summer for me. "Big beat" was a very short lived scene and in my opinion this record along with The Chems Dig your own hole are the only two great records that came out of it. I have loved this record since then and it still sounds better than any other dance lp i have heard as it is very diverse and uses wonderful samples to create the hypnotic effect along with the Trains amazing punk vocals and lyrics. As per the previous poster to get the full effect of this record some sort of substance will definitely help (the clue is in the title folks) but it can still be enjoyed without chemical assistance. Obvious standouts are Kool Roc Bass, Blisters on my Brain, Battleflag, Will i get out of Jail & the amazing vision incision but all the songs are cool. Should be seen as one of the landmark records of the 90's but for some reason it isnt. Weird!!!

The Cerebral Brothers!
The Lo-Fi All-stars were perhaps the coolest band around when they burst on the dance scene a few years back. Laid back Quasi-American vocals courtesy of The Wrekked Train, funky hip-hop beats and grooved up disco melodies made the Lo-Fi All-stars one of the most credible and creative bands in the leftfield dance scene. So how then does this debut album shape up? Well, it's pretty darn...cool!

'Battle Flag' is perhaps the best track on the album. A funky bass line rips through the tune and there are harsh b-boy vocals from Pigeonhed and the track climaxes with evangelical organ sounds. 'Kool Roc Bass' also stands out: it's a musical cocktail of slick vocals, reverberating bass and electro beats. There's more head rocking sounds in the form of the ten-minute eclectic classic 'Vision Incision' and also in the form of the disco flavoured 'Laser Ship Deep Funk', which sounds a little like 'Fly Life' by Basement Jaxx. There are even elements of Detroit techno on 'Will I Get Out of Jail'.

On the whole, the record doesn't have the bouncy beats and crashing guitar hooks that are common in other Big Beat artists. Instead, the influences incline towards seventies funk, eighties hip-hop beats and modern lyrical poetry. Where the album does flag a little (such as on the lazy 'I Used To Fall In Love'), the whole aura of cool and creative feel of the record makes up for it.

Nice dirty nu-skool breaks
If, like me, you felt Fatboy Slim had some good ideas but was far too nice about things, then How To Operate with a Blown Mind is probably a decent approximation to what you're after - the same kind of ideas as the Cookster uses permeate the album (they share the same label) but the Allstars are a lot more upfront than the new Mr Ball. It generally sticks to a dirty funk and breakbeat soundtrack - plenty of 70s guitar licks and sampled drum breaks in here - with occasional nods to early 90s baggy (Screamadelica era) and even the odd house-ish moment.

The production on that album isn't as clean as I'd perhaps like - it could do with tightening up in places (have they never heard of a compressor?) and never really gets as full-on as you possibly expect it to. But these are minor faults. Overall, though, this is a great album and well worth getting hold of.