COMPILATIONSQUICKIES 8.0
Ultraista Ultraista Remixes I Am Fortified Ultra-desirable pals
If you’re going to get your album remixed, it helps if you have the kudos and clout of Nigel Godrich and Joey Waronker — two fifths of Atoms For Peace, Radiohead/ Beck collaborators and two thirds of Ultraista along with dreamy-voiced Laura Bettinson. Their self-titled debut album was full of spacey electronic pop experiments, and for the remixes they’ve drafted in the likes of Four Tet, Matthew Herbert, Prefuse 73, Falty DL, David Lynch... decent, eh? Highlights are many but include Four Tet’s sublime, glittering ‘Smalltalk’ twist, Lynch’s industrial drone vision, but also the lo-fi sedation of Brooklyn duo Eraas. Some of the remixes may be out and about already, but the quality genuinely warrants a collecting together of all pieces — each rework becomes its own introspective trip. Just don’t expect to find it on Spotify. Tristan Parker
Various Crate Diggin’ Robsoul Recordings Scraping the crate
Robsoul boss and all-round Frenchman Phil Weeks has been plugging away at his ‘Crate Diggin’’ series for quite some time, and here he unloads three whole volumes of it, 29 tracks in all from cohorts such as DJ Sneak, DJ Rasoul, Lance De Sardi, Brett Johnson, JT Donaldson, Inland Knights, Mood II Swing, Rick Wade and Miguel Migs. These are the tracks that Weeks has kept returning to over the past 15 or 20 years, and there are a few great moments, notably Mood II Swing’s garage classic ‘Closer’ from back in 1994, some boompty action courtesy of Track Yankers, three solid cuts from Sneak and a few blasts from the past from Inland Knights. Ultimately, though, this is deep house of a specific — and fairly static — stripe. If it’s your bag, nothing we can say will stop you buying it, so go nuts. Ben Arnold
7.0
Various 5 Years of ALiVE ALiVE Recordings 7.0
Five alive!
Tom Budden celebrates five years of his label with a fairly standard unmixed collection of new tunes. Ultimately it’s afflicted with the same symptoms so many unmixed label showcases suffer from. The garage basslines, ‘90s piano riffs and looped female vocal grabs tend to blur into each other, though pretty much all of the selections get the job done. Angus Paterson
Till Von Sein Suol Mates Suol 8.0
9am till I come
In a curveball of sorts, Berlin’s master of 115bpm house lays down a DJ set with eyes well beyond the dancefloor. Crossing molten two-step (Noyce) with gorgeous pop (Different Marks), compressed future garage (Klaves) and downbeat tech house (Ripperton), ‘Suol Mates’ is the perfect way to come down. Lisa Loveday
Brodinski The Purple Ride Mixtape Bromance Records 7.0
Pomp and circum- dance
It takes confidence to follow DJ Screw’s R Kelly re-rub, ‘This is What I Feel’, with the muscular techno of Perc’s ‘Start Chopping’ (remixed by Tommy Four Seven). A sign of the selection that follows, from hip-hop to garage, house and B-More, this assured set is guaranteed to start parties. Martin Guttridge-Hewitt
Various Drum & Bass Arena: Summer Selection 2013 EMI 6.0
7.0
Shlomi Aber Live From Sankeys Ibiza Be As One Pointless posturing?
It’s hard to understand why anyone would start a new CD compilation series, especially with as unspecific and over- done a brief as ‘Live From…’. I mean, in 2013 anyone can watch almost any club performance actually live and fully direct thanks to services like Be
At.TV, Boiler Room and radio stations like NTS, so unless an un-streamed performance really was earth-shatteringly special, there seems no point to commit it to CD. Be As One boss Shlomi Aber, though, clearly missed the memo and here serves up a set live from Sankeys Ibiza. One thing is does prove is that he has a knack for selecting (and producing and A&Ring) chunky, firmly rooted tech house that’s both bulky and booty shaking. Other than that, this could as well have been released as a podcast (or an actual live stream!) and the world would not be that much worse a place. Kristan J Caryl
The Asphodells Remixed Rotters Golf Club Climate change
Andrew Weatherall was in another “brilliant album” shocker with his collaborative release as The Asphodells with cohort Timothy J. Fairplay earlier this year. Never one to break trend, he’s continued his general propensity for being reliably awesome and has drawn on the crème de la crème of his circle of friends and contemporaries to follow up with a remix album of his most recent project. Each track holds its own, and presents a bit of The Asphodells in a different light that’s never too contrived or self-aware, perhaps in part due to Weatherall insisting on commissioning only from his mates during informal chats. Highlights include Daniel Avery’s euphoric psychedelia, the Hardway Bros’ acid-infused EBM, and Ivan Smagghe’s nebulous wooziness, but there’s genuinely no weak links here as each artist expands on something that was already good. Zara Wladawsky
8.5
The fast and the furious
A two-CD round-up of the year’s biggest 175bpm bangerz thus far, with the emphasis on the more accessible — and occasionally cheesy — end of the genre. As a result, your enjoyment levels may depend on how you feel about stadium-trance riffs and excited-toddler drum-rolls. Joe Madden
Various EPM Selected Vol.1 EPM 7.0
Bold but not brilliant
A relatively new house stable to emerge out of a long-running digital distribution operation, EPM drops its first label showcase. ‘EPM Selected Vol.1’ does suffers from a lack of a consistent identity, beyond some particularly melody- drenched charmers from Carl Taylor and Paul Mac. Angus Paterson
Various Mutazione: Italian Electronic and New Wave Strut 9.0
Sonic warfare from Italy’s Years of Lead
Walls’ Alessio Natalizia excavates rare recordings from Italy’s ‘80s underground: a period of socio-political discord which gave way to a thrilling musical response. Italo disco this ain’t. Worth it alone for Laxative Souls’ ‘Nicollai’, a primitivist piece of ambient. Louise Brailey
rePeATTHE LPS WE CAN’T LEAVE ALONE...
Loco Dice In the House
Defected 9.0
The minimal magician shakes his techno tail for Defected.
Carl Craig Masterpiece
Ministry of Sound 9.0
Ever wondered what Carl Craig does for inspiration, aspiration and meditation? Look no further...
Various We Make Colourful Music Because We Dance in the Dark
Greco-Roman 8.5
This glance over the Greco-Roman roster traces the seeds of the dance-pop explosion.
djmag.com 077
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