Pop producers and engineers were once mere industry whispers, hidden from the public to give the impression that artists actually wrote and conceived entire albums by themselves. Since 2000 we've watched producers like the Neptunes and the Matrix (who are behind Avril Lavigne and the new Liz Phair) come out from behind the mixing desk and become as important a selling point as the artists themselves. Banking on this factor – and coming from Britain's tradition of embracing teen pop – Richard X washes up on U.S. shores with Presents His X-Factor Volume One, a compilation of glittery electro dance pop that proves even shit can shine with a prodigy behind the computer controls.

X-Factor is interesting because it lays the pop process on the line. Richard X takes the ubiquitous remake (where unheard-of acts tend to redo one-hit wonders to cement their chart success) one step further by mashing classic R&B vocals over the synthetic pulse of '80s tunes – the result is that listeners get two familiar hits for the price of one. He convinces the Sugarbabes (the U.K. version of early Destiny's Child) to croon Adina Howard's "Freak like Me" over Gary Numan's deliciously fuzzy technoid "Are Friends Electric," then melds the music of Human League's "Being Boiled" and the lyrics to Chaka Khan's fabulously catchy "Ain't Nobody" into a shimmering pop gem for Liberty X, a group formed by losers from Popstars (Britain's American Idol). Vocal effects also rule as Tiga becomes a stuttering gay robot on modern-day disco rub "You (Better Let Me Love You x4) Tonight."

Tellingly, listening to Richard X's debut doesn't give the too-cool-for-mainstream listener a sense of guilt, as bumping Britney Spears might. His tracks contain enough underground influences and cheeky '80s asides to keep the discerning hipsters feeling smug while working mainstream dance floors with their electro chug – and that, disco dollies, is truly the X factor. Presents His X-Factor Volume One is scheduled for release Sept. 2. (Vivian Host)

John Scofield Band
Up All Night (Verve)

Avi Bortnick
Clean Slate (axb)

If John Scofield seemed to be self-consciously jumping on the jam-band bandwagon with last year's Überjam, the fusion guitar vet's follow-up foray into the world of samples, loops, and other gadgetry is less forced. Up All Night contains nods to disco and Afrobeat, as well as a barely recognizable instrumental treatment of the Dramatics' soul oldie "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," but Meters-infused funk remains at the core of the Scofield sound. Bassist Andy Hess and drummer Adam Deitch supply solidly syncopated foundations, and rhythm guitarist Avi Bortnick adds to the mix chicken scratches, wah wahs, and other R&B flavors associated with such pickers as Jimmy Nolen and Dennis Coffey, plus an array of loops and samples that include a taste of flute borrowed from Yusef Lateef. Scofield's trademark prickly tone and zigzagging bop-meets-blues solo flights are abundant, but now he's mastered the use of guitar samples that enable him to spontaneously create otherworldly lines that move in reverse or double in time without relying on overdubs.

Avi Bortnick gigged locally with the brilliant retro-soul band What It Is and various world-beat outfits before hooking up with Scofield two years back and still does an occasional club date with his own quartet when not on the road. On his self-released Clean Slate, the Israeli-born guitarist cuts the funk even closer to the bone with help from such Bay Area players as keyboardist Michael Bluestein and drummers Scott Amendola, Deszon Claiborne, and Brian Collier. Bortnick's electronic wizardry is much in evidence, but the textures he creates are less cluttered, and his solos, while not as dazzling as Scofield's, are always dead on the groove. The John Scofield Band plays Aug. 26-31, Yoshi's, Oakl. (510) 238-9200. (Lee Hildebrand)

Viki/Hair Police
Split CD (Load)

Mammal
Fog III (NGWTT)

Viki sent me her record, along with Mammal's album, in a nice box, gift-wrapped and with a sweet little note. I'll tell you, it brightened up my day. Anyway, Viki's songs are along similar lines as Wolf Eyes', with a little more to grab onto as far as structure and vocals are concerned. The unsettling nature of the sounds creates the same bad-acid vibe as the best Wolf Eyes stuff, and when she employs this downward-spiraling buzz-saw sound, you can't help feeling like maybe you need to get to your safe place – pronto. When I saw her at the Hemlock Tavern a few months ago, she spent almost the entire set underneath the table that she set her gadgets on, screaming. Viki is cool. The Hair Police half takes the Kentucky-based group's total freakout debut, Blow Out Your Blood, into the territory of Smiley Smile, Miami queercore kings Frosty's Liquor Drink, and Dick Dale jungle surf, in that order.

When I saw Mammal last year he was playing at Kimo's, with Hair Police and Neon Hunk. Before his set there was this incredibly loud destructo noise shit coming out of the speakers, and it completely stressed me out. I had to leave the room and was downstairs when somebody told me that Mammal was playing, so I ran up there and realized that he had been the one making those noises that almost split my brain in half. There was a tight circle of people around him, bobbing their heads and dancing in a real sweaty, animal way. The shit is for real. The CD is a collection of horrendous noises layered on top of one another in such a way as to make you either want to dance around your room with Woolite dripping down your chin or to go gouge your eyeballs out with a ballpoint pen. It sounds like someone is cutting through concrete.

I don't know what this music's point is, but I think that's one reason why I like it. Viki and Mammal play Fri/22, Bottom of the Hill, S.F. (415) 621-4455. (Mike McGuirk)

Teledubgnosis
Magnetic Learning Center (Wordsound)

It is, of course, massively unfair to begin a review of the new Teledubgnosis release, Magnetic Learning Center, by talking about negative-creep dub monstrosity Scorn. But the similarities are intriguing: both outfits make full use of the dub idiom to explore frontiers of sound, and both feature drummers from some of the heaviest/weirdest bands of all time (Ted Parsons of Godflesh, Prong, the Swans, and Foetus in the former instance, and Mick Harris from Napalm Death in the latter).