Josh Wink's living the life. He's Philadephia's best- known DJ. His dance staple "Are You There..." has been broadcast into millions of homes via MTV's weekly electronic show, "Amp." He owns Ovum Recordings with King Britt. He's got dreadlocks. He's famous. What more could you want? Er... how about a new album?

It's been more than a year since "Are You There..." generated all sorts of buzz about the guy, so it seems like a follow- up to his 1996 release, Left Above The Clouds is more than a little overdue. And here it finally is.

Herehear has moments of intense focus-- driving rhythms, excellent samples, beautiful music. "Young Again" is a flowing digital river of sound whose speedfreak breakbeats seem strangely ambient. "I'm On Fire" mixes stumbling, chunky beats with singer Caroline Crawley's gorgeous jazz vocals, and "Are You There..." is a straight- up classic.

But Wink fails to come through on tracks like "New Groove," "Back In Tha' Day," and "Hard Hit," whose beats are flat and, worse, too damn repetitive. Other accidents include "Sixth Sense," which features horrid spoken word by that crazy Ursula Rucker, and the god- awful "Black Bomb," in which Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor takes on vocal duties.

Herehear may have sounded great a year ago, but in today's fast- paced, ever- changing world of electro, it seems held back by its lack of character and substance. Let's hope Wink gets his next project on the shelves before it passes the expiration date.

-Ryan Schreiber