Cope

When Adam Freeland surfaced in 1999, at the tail end of the drum'n'bass movement, he was a DJ/producer championing a funny little subgenre called nu skool breaks. It was so small that he was one of its only artists. But since 2003, the U.K. native has reinvented himself as a rock/punk/electro fusion guy, a la his contemporaries Junkie XL and James Lavelle. On "Cope" he collaborates with an impressive set of bold-faced instrumentalists—Twiggy Ramirez (Marilyn Manson), Joey Santiago (Pixies), Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe)—on songs that flip between shoegaze fodder (the swirling, My Bloody Valentine-ish "Silent Speaking"), thunderous dancefloor wallops ("Bring It") and foot-stomping punk ("Under Control"). As on many valiant attempts by electronic artists to cross over, there's too much going on. But "Cope" succeeds in creating an overall sense of unrest and some moments of electro-transcendence.