Compilation Recommendations February 2013

Review: In an era when considered eclecticism is all the rage, Hessle Audio founder Ben UFO still stands out. He's long been considered one of electronic music's more interesting DJs, seemingly able to weave together disparate sounds and styles into a logical, entertaining whole. This contribution to the FabricLive series shows him at his masterful best, utilising the simple pleasures of rhythm to weave together 28 thrilling and thoughtful selections. In the space of 70 minutes, he somehow manages to fuse sparse electro with classic acid house, murky post-dubstep techno with tribal African rhythms (and sharp '80s proto-house synths), Mr Fingers with Shackleton, stripped analogue techno with tactile futurism, and locked grooves with crystalline electronica. Truly, it's a tour de force.

Review: There's been plenty of hype about this much-delayed first compilation from France's well-regarded Astro Labs label. Given the imprint's fine record and the fact that the vast majority of these tracks are new or unreleased, it's easy to see why. Thankfully, it doesn't disappoint, offering a thrillingly varied trawl through the more cosmic fringes of leftfield dance music. From the spiralling electronics and analogue rhythms of Timothy J Fairplay's "Curb Your Dog" and the no-nonsense beauty of Cage & Aviary's "What Love", to the chugging synth-wave of Mugwump and the Hardway Brothers' LB Bad tribute "The Prince of Outer Space", there's much buried treasure to be found

Review: Given that the '90s is all the rage (or at least, it was last time we checked), it's perhaps unsurprising that this instalment of Renaissance's Masters Series sounds like an updated tribute to Sasha and Digweed's legendary Northern Exposure sets. While the music is new and recent, there's definitely a progressive house sensibility to veteran Bristolian DJ Nick Warren's approach. Like those Northern Exposure albums, there's a downtempo disc featuring twinkling ambience, dubby electronica and melodic mood pieces. And like those Northern Exposure albums, the more uptempo disc bristles with melodic intent, layering icy electronics and sprawling pads atop shuffling grooves and bubbling basslines. For those with long memories, it's like a refreshing blast from the past.

Review: With an ever-strong commitment to their very unique brand of modern electronic dance music, the Night Slugs posse are rounded up once again for a stock take on the follow up to the successful Night Slugs Allstars compilation. It's only with a chance to reflect such as this you can appreciate the range that falls neatly into the Night Slugs remit. At one turn you can be doused in the blinding sunshine of Girl Unit's cheery electro as on "Ensemble (Club Mix)", or at the next be confronted with the staggered stab frenzy of Helix's somewhat ironically named "Drum Track". Try reaching them without being thrown by Bok Bok's 31st century grime madness or Lil Silva's hyper-kinetic throwdown of mechanical psychedelia and you might have a chance of getting a handle on the label as a whole.

Review: Rene 'Noir' Kristensen is arguably a producer whose time has come. Having enjoyed a decade-long apprenticeship, releasing comfy deep and tech-house blends on a variety of labels, he seems ready to take the step up to the next level. Recording this mix for Defected's long-running In The House series will certainly help. It's something of a breezy winter warmer, offering a slick journey through the words of sumptuous deep house and melody-driven tech-house, with a smattering of '90s flavoured cuts thrown in to keep things moving. Kristensen's extensive use of loops, accapellas and drum tracks leads to some memorable blends, too, with his fusion of Sandy Rivera's "Changes" and his own "Satisfied" standing out.

Review: Whatever you think of Hed Kandi, their Back To Love series has usually been a reliable source of cheery dancefloor classics from the "golden era" of dance music. This latest volume, stretched to three CDs from the usual two, offers another whirlwind tour through the box marked "classics". The first disc is reliably jaunty, focusing mostly on soulful house and garage from the likes of Masters At Work, Alison Limerick and Kathy. The second disc takes things up a notch - think acid house, bumpin' garage and "Show Me Love" - before the third offers a beatsier mix of hip-hop, hip-house and soul-flecked grooves (including Blue Boy's once ubiquitous "Remember Me").

Review: You want disco, right? If so, you could do worse than check out this fascinating collection of well-known hits and lesser-known gems from the lads and lasses at Milestone. Alongside some bona fide anthems - Skyy's "First Time Around", Dinosaur's "Kiss Me Again", the Vincent Montana Orchestra version of Salsoul Orchestra fave "Love Break" - there are some excellent, long-forgotten cuts. It's these - Yambu's skittering jazz-funk workout "Sunny", Fantastic Four's soaring Philly Soul belter "I Got To Have Your Love", Captain Sky's percussive workout "Super Sperm" - that really make The Original Masters stand out. Besides, any compilation that features Trax's unfeasibly heavy "Crusader" gets our vote.

Review: Listening back to this collection of remixes from UK producer Dave Taylor aka Switch, one is reminded of how different electronic music sounded during the mid-noughties. The bleepy bassline, chopped-up vocals and lo-fi sample aesthetic belongs to a different era, yet there is still something endearing about Switch's approach. On his version of Ben Westbeech's "Dance With Me", this manifests itself through a grimy acid line, boisterous vocals and a shuffling groove that sounds like an early incarnation of the UK bass/techno groove. Switch's interpretations of The Futureheads and Spank Rock (one of the era's genuine classics) are even more radical, with his take on the former's "Worry About It Later" containing merely a stuttering vocal and looped guitar riff from the original, and on the latter's "Bump", he moves from filtered disco stabs into a carnal ghetto house narrartive.