Death In Vegas
Photo: BMG

Melding the muscular world of rock with the transcendent world of electronics, Death in Vegas' newest platter, Scorpio Rising, helps close the ever-shrinking gap between the organic and artificial worlds of music.

Just tasting a few seconds of the throbbing opener, "Leather," with its brawny drum beat and minimalist krautrock guitar melody, one would never imagine these sounds are the work of two U.K. DJs. Since 1997, Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes have been dexterously navigating the choppy waters of experimental techno while throwing in elements of rock, punk, dub and even visceral guitar bursts and drones a la My Bloody Valentine.

Named after a 1964 movie by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger, Scorpio Rising continues the course, but this time vacillating between soft-focus ethereality and rowdy, psychedelic dance rock. Much like the Beatles' famous spiritual trip to meet the Maharishi in 1967, Scorpio Rising's moods and textures are greatly indebted to a voyage to India.

There, Fearless and Holmes met their own spiritual guru, Dr. L. Subramaniam, an acclaimed Indian violinist who helped Vegas achieve their sonic ambitions and who has also helped arrange strings for George Harrison and Herbie Hancock.

Not only was working with Subramaniam in India creatively rousing, but it set the tone for the productive aspirations to come. "He was very open to our ideas, and [the experience] was quite inspirational," Holmes said. "In your head, you know what it's going to sound like when you've got 200 violins on your album, but it's nothing compared to what it really sounds like. It's totally amazing and overpowering."

Proof of Death in Vegas' solid rock cred lies in the album's guest stars, a veritable who's who of British musical elite, including Paul Weller, Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval, Dot Allison and Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher. It's the album's centerpiece and first single, "Scorpio Rising," featuring Gallagher, that exemplifies Death in Vegas' seamless lacing of rock and roll anthems to shimmering electronics.

After spending a few months trying to track Gallagher down, Death in Vegas discovered the mercurial frontman wasn't the notorious bad-ass they'd envisioned. "He was on his best behavior and he was incredibly professional. And what a voice — it's probably the loudest voice I've ever recorded in my life," Holmes said. "I wouldn't want to get into an argument with him, that's for sure. But [he was] a lovely guy. Really funny, really witty and really sweet."

Unfortunately, the younger Gallagher couldn't celebrate the tracks' completion with the genre-defying duo. "He can't go out [in public]. It's mental being that well known. He can't walk down the street. I would love to sit in the pub with him and shoot the breeze for a few hours, but poor man, he can't even go out for a pint."

Perhaps taking a cue from their notorious Brit-rock collaborator, Death in Vegas stirred up their very own rock controversy when the menacing techno track "Hands Around My Throat" was banned from video channels in France after a spate of auto-asphyxiation cases among Parisian teens hit a little too close to home.

"It's actually about a woman going out and looking for sexual gratification by picking up young men," Holmes said. Featuring Nicola Kuperus of Detroit electro-tech duo Adult., it's easy to see why the sinister track driven by a throbbing snakelike bassline could be misinterpreted as something malicious.

Marquee-name collaborators might raise Death in Vegas' profile, but the duo insist it's all about their love of music and not some elaborate plan to drive sales. In fact, none of Scorpio Rising's songs was written with a collaborator in mind.

"I think if we did it the other way around it would all go belly up," Holmes said. We can't do anything to a formula, we'd just fail every time."

Their stance is something rock's elder statesmen appear to respect.

"Iggy Pop said, 'One of the reasons I decided to work with you was your approach to me was really honest,' " said Holmes. "And [what we sent him] was just a handwritten letter and a cassette, which I think he was quite touched by. Because he [doesn't] work with just anyone, obviously."

And to bring it full circle, Death in Vegas are becoming sought-after collaborators in their own right. Seminal mod figure and Jam frontman Weller was the one who approached the twosome about working together.

"We were at Abbey Road studios, [at a] charity event," recalled Holmes. "And [Weller] came up to us, actually, and said, 'You know, I really liked your last album, and if you ever fancy doing something in the future, give us a shout.' So we did, and he was brilliant."

• Death In Vegas
• Adult
• Liam Gallagher
• Paul Weller
• Hope Sandoval

Richard Ashcroft, Death In Vegas, Leftfield, and Coldplay are among the artists whose work has been nominated for this year's Technics Mercury Music Prize, one of the U.K.'s most prestigious awards honoring the best and most innovative album of the year.

The twelve nominated albums were announced on Tuesday during a press conference at London's Commonwealth Club, with the winner to receive the Prize during a gala ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel on September 12.

Other albums and artists up for the 2000 Mercury Music Prize include The Delgados "The Great Eastern," Helicopter Girl's "How To Steal The World," and MJ Cole's "Sincere."

Following a head-turning performance at this past summer's Glastonbury Festival and the chart-topping debut of its first album, "Parachutes," British oddsmakers have tagged newcomer Coldplay as the early favorite to take the award.

A panel of select music journalists and industry professionals decide upon the winner, with Gomez's "Bring It On" album taking home the award in 1998 followed last year by Talvin Singh's "OK."

For Ashcroft, the nomination for his new solo album, "Alone With Everybody," was almost expected, as his last record with his former group, "Urban Hymns" by The Verve, was also nominated for a Mercury Music Prize,

But as he recently told MTV News, Ashcroft realizes it'll take more than a few awards and some past hits to help bring "Alone With Everybody" to the same number of people who caught on to "Urban Hymns."

"In England, it's a small country, and to be famous in England is completely different to being a kind of cool artist in America, which I actually am now," Ashcroft told MTV News. "I think once the 'Bittersweet Symphony' thing has died down, [the album will] probably go back to the people who bought 'Urban Hymns' when it came out and 'A Northern Soul.'

"I'm comfortable at that level, and I'm also comfortable if the record kicked off by word of mouth and things like this, where people will have a chance to listen to it and open up to it. That's the way the record will kick off, I think, and if it doesn't, I'm right there as well.

"I can go anywhere, really. I can find good in both outcomes. The record could bomb, and I'd be happy, 'cause I made one of the greatest records that ever bombed," [RealVideo] he said, laughing.

The full list of nominees for the 2000 Technics Mercury Music Prize:

• Richard Ashcroft - "Alone With Everybody"
• Badly Drawn Boy - "The Hour Of Bewilderbeast"
• Coldplay - "Parachutes"
• MJ Cole - "Sincere"
• Death In Vegas - "The Contino Sessions"
• Delgados - "The Great Eastern"
• Doves - "Lost Souls"
• Helicopter Girl - "How To Steal The World"
• Leftfield - "Rhythm And Stealth"
• Nicholas Maw - "Violin Concerto"
• Nitin Sawhney - "Beyond Skin"
• Kathryn Williams - "Little Black Numbers"

• Richard Ashcroft
• Coldplay
• Death In Vegas
• The Verve

The British electronica duo known as Death In Vegas has just announced plans for its first North American tour in two years, and it's slated to kick off on November 12 in San Francisco.

• 11/12 - San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo's
• 11/13 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
• 11/15 - Seattle, WA @ Aro Space
• 11/17 - New York, NY @ Irving Place
• 11/18 - Boston, MA @ Paradise
• 11/20 - Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace
• 11/22 - Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
• 11/23 - Chicago, IL @ Double Door

• Death In Vegas

October 28 [14:00 EDT] -- If you've caught the eerily enticing video from Death In Vegas for the track "Dirt" [800k QuickTime] and been intrigued, you'll be glad to know that you'll be seeing, and hearing, more from the band in the near future.

The group has signed on to perform at the next installment of MTV's "Fashionably Loud," which will also feature a turn by the Crystal Method. All artists and models involved will descend on New York on November 5 to tape the program, which will air next February.

Meanwhile, Death In Vegas' Richard Fearless has written two songs for the soundtrack to the next film by "Trainspotting" author Irvine Welsh. The movie, which is based on a collection of Welsh novellas, is called "Acid House Trilogy," and will star Ewan Bremner, who played Spud in "Trainspotting."

• Death In Vegas