'The Beach' sizzles with electronic grooves

"The Beach" is the latest movie featuring teen heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio. However, those looking for music in the style of the multimillion copy selling, chart topping "Titanic" soundtrack should look elsewhere: "The Beach" soundtrack proves that Leo is not synonymous with crappy music - only crappy acting.

"The Beach" features a fully packed lineup of electronic artists as well as surprising tracks from Sugar Ray and All Saints. Sugar Ray performs "Spinning Away," a Brian Eno and John Cale collaboration from the "Wrong Way Up" album that sounds remarkably unlike Sugar Ray. With its electronic backdrop and ska guitar styling, it is perhaps the only song of the album that evokes images of a beach in the classical sense. All Saints, the latest British girl band, performs "Pure Shores," a tune written and produced by William Orbit who has, in the past, worked with Madonna. The song works because the music falls just outside of the pop realm while the lyrics, "I'm drowning, swimming closer to you" are familiar but somehow don't sound used.

While these two songs have the greatest potential to become hits, the bulk of the album's beauty lies with the electronic players. The opening track, Leftfield's "Snake Blood," provides a dark and winding trail through fast beats and synthesized heaven. Moby's "Porcelain" with its bouncy drum beats, is sprinkled with a soft and graceful piano melody and an assortment of looped voices. Over all of this is an airy male voice that sings with resignation, "In my dreams/I'm dyin' all the time?/So this is goodbye." Underworld contributes "8 Ball," a nine minute track that sounds more like the Blur from "13" than Blur's featured track on this album, the remixed "On Your Own."

Other artists such as Asian Dub Foundation, Orbital, New Order and Faithless all add impressive tracks. Musically speaking, however, it is Unkle's "Lonely Soul" that steals the spotlight. A nine minute masterpiece composed by Joshua Davis (aka DJ Shadow) and The Verve's Richard Ashcroft that first appeared on Unkle's '98 release "Psyence Fiction," it combines dark orchestral arrangements with human-sounding programmed beats. Completing the musical picture is Ashcroft's depressed lyrics that border on nihilism as he moans, "I'm going to die in a place that don't know my name." This track is one of the finest examples of how mood - and even an experience - can be transformed into music.

Still, as with most soundtracks, there is a certain flow that is missing from "The Beach." While each song stands well on its own and there is a genre-linking aspect between them, there is a certain congruity missing from the album. It also remains to be seen how well the music fits with the film. Nevertheless, music director Angelo Badalamenti and company have compiled a dazzling collection of individual songs.