Compilation Recommendations October 2013

Review: German ambient label Air Texture has an interesting business model. The imprint's only releases are sporadic, two-disc compilations. Even then, they get other people to do half the work, selecting a new pair of curators each time. For this third edition in the series, Deadbeat Music and DJ Olive are at the controls. Somewhat predictably, it's another excellent selection of woozy soundscapes, twinkling ambience and occasional unnerving experimentalism. Moments of great beauty - Hrdvsion's "The No Face", Jim O'Rourke's sparse but atmospheric "Low Bow" - nestle side by side with crusty, unusual, droning concoctions (see sometime Orb member Thomas Fehlmann's "Embrace" and Jacapo Carreras' "Violinic Drumming"). It's a formula that ensures intriguing, otherworldly listening.

Review: Having previously explored Chicago boogie and the roots of the Windy City's house scenes, Jerome Derradji's Still Music imprint turns its attention to the story of the largely unheralded Sunset Records Inc. A collaboration between Matt Warren, Miguel Garcia and Ralphie Rosario, the label blurred the boundaries between European-influenced sounds (specifically Italo, new wave and industrial) and "beat tracks" - what would become the city's greatest musical export: house. There's some terrific material here, from the touchy-feely piano house of Warren's "You Know The Way To My Heart" and freestyle/proto house fusion of White Knight's "Demons (A Mix 2 U)", to the dense disco drums of Master Plan's "Electric Balle (Large Dub)" and the foppish, Human League-go-Italo foppishness of Boom Boom & Master Plan's "Face The Music".

Review: Scott Grooves has been in a retrospective mood of late. This year is his twentieth in music, having released his first single, Solid Grooves, way back in 1993. As way of a celebration, he's dug through his old DATs, floppy discs, hard drives and reel-to-reels to unearth an impressive collection of previously unheard and unreleased fare. Mixed together to form a deep, fluid, stargazing journey through two decades of house and Detroit techno, Unreleased Anthology joins the dots between cascading electronics ("Tape"), rush-inducing futurism ("Inspiration Sound"), bubbling acid (the delicious "909.25"), and ultra-deep shufflers (a previously 'lost dub' of Alton Miller hook-up "Gonna Be Alright").

Review: Though they've put out numerous 12"s from the likes of Lindstrom, Aeroplane, Ilya Santana and more over the years, Eskimo's revered reputation amongst the leftfield disco hoi polloi has been secured by their countless excellent compilation series. Following the label's Eskimonde anniversary box set last year, Eskimo return with a new compilation series that signals the next stage in the label's enduring career. Entitled The Pink Collection, this 13 track set of all new productions from the likes of Kasper Bjorke, Martin Brodin, Satin Jackets and Copycat, It expectedly veers luxuriously through psychedelic disco, laidback cosmic chug and more and fits snugly alongside the Radioslave and Glimmers helmed compilations released on Eskimo.

Review: If you were looking for someone to join the dots between the first wave of UK garage and today's subsequent mutations of the sound (UK funky, bass music wobblers etc.), DJ EZ would surely be top of the list. A genuine UK garage original (he released his first EP back in 1998), Otis Roberts remains a firm favourite of garage connoisseurs and 20 year-old new breed ravers alike. Predictably, this belated contribution to Fabric's long-running mix series does an excellent job in representing the past and the present, contrasting traditional two-step cuts (see Mike Delinquent Project's "Killer"-remake, "Live", MJ Cole's stone-cold classic "Sincere") and vintage 4/4 garage (Todd Edwards) with new school belters from the likes of Disclosure, DJ Q, Majestic and SBTRKT.

Review: For the latest installment in their popular mix series, Berlin club Watergate has turned to Vakant regular and man-about-town Mathias Kaden. It's a good choice. Kaden has relatively broad tastes and isn't averse to playing forgotten classics and unlikely B-sides. As a result, Watergate 14 offers a fluid journey, opening with the dreamy, liquid house styles of DJ Koze, Alix Alvarez and Ron Trent, before seamlessly moving into more tech-tinged territory, with his own hypnotic "Troja" and Ricardo Villalobos' tactile "Hands Up" standing out. The energy levels continue to rise as the mix progresses, with the hissing cymbals, jacking beats of and squidgy synth bass of Alejandro Paz paving the way for a warmer, more US house-influenced sprint to the finish.

Review: Despite its February release, Andrew Weatherall and Timothy J Fairplay's debut as The Asphodells, "Destroyed By Passion, Ruled By Lust" remains one of the best albums of 2013. Here, their love letter to shoegaze, Industrial and dark new wave gets the remix treatment from an impressive list of pals and underground mainstays. Musically, it's largely what you'd expect, with most reworks accentuating the source material's gothic moods, analogue wonkiness and clandestine atmospherics. There are, of course, thrilling highlights, from the Hardway Brothers intense new beat-meets-acid take on "Never There", Richard Sen's spiralling, dark electrofunk take on "Beglammered", Scott Fraser's thumping revision of "We Are The Axis" and Wooden Shjips' woozy, nightmare Balearic interpretation of "One Minute's Silence" standing out.

Review: French deep house scene stalwarts Phil Weeks and Didier Allyne have been running their low-key P&D Recordings imprint for five years, delivering occasional blasts of brilliance without a hint of hype, mixing new tracks with reissues of slept-on classics. This fifth anniversary collection fills in the gaps for newcomers and occasional label-watchers, offering up premier quality material from the likes of Rick Wade (whose "Night Station" is among his best work), Joshua, Jesper Dahlback and Boo Williams (the fantastically murky "Anger (Chi-Town Dub)"). Brilliantly, there's also a chance to savour a couple of vintage gems from Mood II Swing (the ultra-deep "Move Me") and Chez Damier and Ron Trent (1995's "Foot Therapy").

Review: In the 12 years since he unfurled acclaimed debut album Clarence Park, one-man electronica factory Chris Clark has produced a vast body of work. He's been particularly busy on the remix front, completing a huge array of reworks. It's this work that makes up the vast majority of Feast/Beast, a remix retrospective (which, curiously, also includes some notable reworks of his material) split into two distinct halves. The first disc, Feast, focuses on the more melodic, other-worldly end of his output, delivering wide-eyed remixes of Amon Tobin, Kuedo and, most beautiful of all, Silverman. Beast, the second disc, moves into darker, tougher territory, joining the dots between techno, bass music, vintage hardcore and wonk-hop thanks to notable versions of Massive Attack, Maximo Park and Depeche Mode.

Review: Having roped in Fritz Kalkbrenner to put together the first instalment of their Suol Mates mix series, German deep house imprint Suol turn to Till Vin Sein for the second. Notably, the shaven-headed deep house producer has taken the opportunity to flex his selection skills, offering a warm, woozy, soulful and revealing peek into the diversity of his record collection. Beginning with the touchy-feely, crackly downtenpo grooves of Noyce, he variously touches on experimental D&B (Ayala), revivalist UK garage (Klaves), Balearic nu-jazz (Prins Thomas's excellent remix of Ackin), stylish synth-funk (Blood Orange, Twit Onbe) and, of course, sumptuous deep house (Toroy Moi, Tigerskin, Ripperton). The resultant mix-up is hazy, sunny and unashamedly atmospheric.