Osaka's 'Life For Dead Spaces' begins in very similar fashion to Everything But The Girl's crossover electronic hit 'Walking Wounded' but after the programmed beats have kicked in the comparisons end there. For Osaka are a French group of musicians who excel in the ambient and minimalist circles favoured by the likes of Charles Atlas and Epic 45 where guitar patterns ring, chime and resonate. Deceptively-named tracks indicate completely different images altogether and so 'Mobsters And Racketeers' has more in common with the filigree effects of mid-80s Cocteau Twins rather than gangsta rap. Furthermore, the shimmering effects of 'All Done With Mirrors' calls to mind Yellow6. The most memorable song - and perhaps not by coincidence the most mournful - is 'Up To And Including Her Limits', a repeated guitar refrain slowly joined by ghostly keyboard effects and some distorted drum loops making up an almost perfect sad melody. Admittedly there are a lot of artists making this kind of quietly melancholic music but when it is performed as well as this who cares?