The first time I listened to James Pants‘ eponymous third album my head was left spinning. The second time: more head spin. Third time, it begins to make sense and you can start the process of spotting the encyclopaedia of genres crammed into the record. It’s got the Stones Throw hip-hop vibe (the label Pants resides on), some funk, new wave, psychedelia, doo wop, sci-fi electro and straight-up pop. Once you brain has stopped melting, you can see the lad’s got talent: he’s more than your average turntablist.

Spokane’s James Singleton (as Pants is known to his mum) kicks off James Pants with the sound of a hoover starting up on ‘Beta’, before a fizzing Krautrock groove kicks in, being joined by fuzzbox guitars, organ noises and nonsense lyrics shouted through a broken mic. You might think this is going to set you up for a post-punk record, but it’s quickly followed by the shiny 80s electro-funk of ‘Every Night’, every bit as authentic and chilling as Destroyer‘s recent forays into blue-eyed soul. Pants sounds a little edgy as the chorus approaches, coming over a bit too Red Dragon as he yelps “Every night I dream of you / every night I dream of you…..STOP!”

Two songs in and who knows where we go next, but Pants stays in the 1980s for some more funk, the lovely ‘Clouds Over the Pacific’ which features the icy vocals of Lucrecia Dalt and the equally fresh ‘A Little Bit Closer’ – although halfway through that track there’s a change of direction to swinging 60s Stax grooves and toyshop synths.

What pulls these songs away from pastiche (and I’ve no doubt that Pants will have his detractors who simply don’t believe he’s sincere in what he does) is that little extra twist that the aforementioned Destroyer can also pull out of the bag. For someone whose background is essentially hip hop and turntables, James Pants shows more understanding of a wide variety of genres than, say, DJ Shadow or UNKLE’s James Lavelle.

The edgy ‘Strange Girl’ picks up the pace, heavily indebted to Suicide and new wave sounds, a dislocated female voice intoning the track’s name over and over again before a wash of punky guitar threatens to overload speakers. Pants plays around with the tempo again, slowing things down with ‘Incantation’, Dalt again providing cooing vocals over some retro-futurist sci-fi sounds. Then, just when you think things can’t get any more confusing, the G-Funk of ‘Kathleen’ kicks in, and Pants lays down a sleazy falsetto. I think I need a lie down…

Pants gets all surf-rock on us with ‘Darlin”, one of his most recognisable tracks, even going so far as crooning authentically retro lyrics: “You are my baby, I need you every day / My lovely darlin’, don’t ever go away”, over background barbershop harmonies. That brings us to the song that probably defines the album in one handy track; “Alone”, the standout song on the record, moves from noisy guitar opening and Martin Rev vocals, to sultry saxophone grooves, through all sorts of electro noises to a brass section, and finally to a wired electric guitar solo outtro.

If your head can handle the genre-hopping and sheer amount of brain-melting noises James Pants packs into its running time then you’ll be rewarded with some good music – and I mean some. A bit more focus would stop my head hurting quite as much after each listen, and Pants’ vocals are rather an acquired taste, but once he calms down a tad we should be able to expect more highs than lows.