SAN FRANCISCO -- Propellerheads founder Alex Gifford knew that he'd have to make a move if he wanted to find some fresh blood to work with on his band's second album.

So he made the move -- a big one full of even bigger hopes.

While his bandmate, Will White, is recuperating in England from a nasty bout of the intestinal disorder colitis, Gifford has relocated across the Atlantic in New York for the summer in search of new and unusual collaborators.

"I'm looking for freaky vocals," Gifford, 33, said of why he went to New York to begin recording the second Propellerheads album.

While he waits for White to mend, Gifford said he has begun scouring the Big Apple for "something odd" that might catch his ear and end up as the perfect vocal hook for the still-unnamed sophomore effort from the big-beat electronica duo.

Meanwhile, Gifford is taking the show on the road with some solo DJ performances in the U.S., including a July 10 gig at the Nikita club in San Francisco.

"Put it like this," said Kelly Edwards, marketing director for party-promotions firm Spundae, which books nights at Nikita. "Everyone was screaming and yelling at points and he played some of his big-beat stuff and maybe threw in some Sex Pistols in the middle to make it work a bit harder."

Fellow U.K. big-beat DJ Fatboy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook) said Gifford's live DJ show doesn't compare to the normal version of the Propellerheads' live concert, which features live drums, bass and keyboards, as well as turntables.

"The Props are one of the few dance bands who actually give a good show," Cook said. "If I did it, I would spend all afternoon setting up tons of equipment and then stand there and press start and then twiddle a few knobs, and I don't think that's showbiz. The only dance bands where it does work is bands like ... the Props where they really are beating the hell out of their instruments and they're fun to watch live."

Once Gifford finishes his stripped-down string of DJ dates, which feature him spinning records without live instruments, he said he'll head back to New York to first produce tracks on the next Jungle Brothers album, then he'll keep searching for vocalists for the Propellerheads album.

"We just want vocalists that are a bit odd," he said. "A lot of what we do is about odd combinations of things. It's always a fresh look at things when you see them in different contexts."

Other Props collaborations with the Jungle Brothers include

"You Want It Back" (RealAudio excerpt), off the Props' 1998 debut, decksandrumsandrockandroll.

"That's why we want to work with the JBs again. They're just always looking to cross boundaries," Gifford said.

To prepare for that day and for what else is to come, he has set up a studio in his New York apartment, which he said he will share with White, as soon as the ailing DJ is well enough to travel and join him.