Coming down to earth, it's actually the music of two blokes from Sheffield and Hull. Mind you, the discovery that the name is an acronym for an air force program looking behind enemy lines lends something a little more sinister to the equation. The Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System - now that sounds like a devious arrangement.

Close scrutiny of the J*S*T*A*R*S make-up reveals that both its practitioners have expertise in the art of making people dance and smile. Steve Cobby is one half of Fila Brazillia, a prolific team of consistently good albums (eleven at last estimate!) and countless remixes, their speciality being instrumental grooves to charm away the early hours.

Sim Lister has worked with him before at 23 Records, the company now looking after all Fila productions. Together with Fila's other half Dave McSherry the small collective have become famed for their breezy funk, shot through with a sense of humour in quirky samples or athletic bass lines.

Put Me On A Planet is an extension of this, containing all the elements that make Fila's music so enjoyable. The titles offer a clue of the subtle humour involved - Faberge Tang and Blu Genes for instance. With each track leading into the next it comes across as a semi-mix album, obviously geared more towards the floor than the sofa. And when insistent riffs such as the one that dominates That Hefty Track make themselves known, I know where I'd rather be.

Even by then, the second track, you'll have caught the bug. The beats are springy, the harmonies spicy, the loops insistently making a play for the middle of your head. Mostly instrumental, they include melodies from trumpet and saxophone to complement the electronic wizardy going on elsewhere, Spanish Hustle's evocative sax solo a good example.

A couple of the older tracks appeared on 23 Records samplers back in 2004, but have not lost their appeal. Tripping The Light Fantastic scoots along with electronic squiggles and snippets of brass, while Spansules takes a trip to the disco, brass section once again in tow. Finally Loose Nuke Threat, another feelgood track, nods its head to Mr Scruff with a nifty aside or two.

One listen all the way through and I guarantee you'll have the bug. J*S*T*A*R*S may be a typist's nightmare, but their music offers a feelgood extension to the summer. You'd be silly not to join in.

share

end of year feature musicOMH's 50 Best Albums Of 2009 From the nearly 700 albums we reviewed this year, which did our writers love the most? Introduction 50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21 20-11 | 10-4 | 1-3