Compilation Recommendations Best Of 2013

Review: As Claremont 56's superb Originals series of crate-digging compilations tiptoes towards the final curtain (a celebratory vinyl box-set is due later in the year), label boss Paul Murphy hands the reigns over towards longtime pals DJ Spun and Ben Cook, the men behind San Fran/New York imprint Rong Music. If you've heard either DJ, you'd expect their selection to jump between a myriad of dubby, stargazing styles, and that's exactly what they deliver. From the intergalactic ambience of Space Time Continuum's "Transmitter", to the low-slung dub disco of Futura 2000, via the Balearic house shuffle of FM Inc and spaced-out punk-funk of Big Boys, it's a treasure trove of thrillingly atmospheric obscurities. Recommended... as usual.

Review: It's been four years since notorious party animal and musician extraordinaire Sam Shepherd (AKA Floating Points) launched Eglo Records. In that time, the London-based imprint has become a beacon for soul-flecked electronic music in all its forms. This double-disc retrospective tells the story so far, perfectly showcasing the label's eclectic but sharply focused approach. Alongside hits from Funkineven, Fatima, Arp 101 and, of course, Floating Points, there are numerous slept-on jams and lesser-known cuts that veer from next-level alien boogie and armour-clad acid house, to twinkling future jazz and smooth hip-hop soul. Pleasingly, there's also a quartet of unreleased cuts, of which Floating Points' epic, intoxicating "Wires" stands out.

Review: And so it is that we say a teary goodbye to Claremont 56's superb Originals series of decidedly Balearic compilations. While a bespoke vinyl box set featuring tracks from the series is due at the end of September, this is the last official installment. This time round, NYC-based, Tokyo-raised Frenchman Alex From Tokyo is the man at the controls. Predictably, his selections are spot on, from the laidback, jazz guitar-flecked bliss of his own Tokyo Black Star re-edit of Pepe California's "Meli-Fali", and the wide-eyed synth-Balearica of Violets' "Sunset", to the tongue-in-cheek post-disco funk of Electric Guitars' "Night Bears", and the 1983 proto-house/boogie dubbiness of Tia Monae's "Don't Keep Me Waiting (Dub Mix)". In other words, it's as impeccable and essential as the rest of the series.

Review: he Boddika-helmed Nonplus unveil Think & Change, the label's first compilation and what a way to mark such an event. Calling on a cast of the great and the good of contemporary techno and bass music, Think & Change arrives sporting some thirteen tracks, a statement of how far Nonplus has come since its emergence in 2009 as an outlet for the Autonomic family of artists, gradually mutating into a more wide ranging approach, with material from Actress, Kassem Mosse and Basic Soul Unit ensuring a reputation as one of the most respected labels in the bass music diaspora. The highlights on this compilation are many, but you should be checking Four Tet's contribution "For These Times" (easily his best, least fussy club track to date) "Bad Chicago" from Martyn, and Kassem Mosse's excellent "Broken Patterns".

Review: Analogue fetishists, acclaimed live performers and dubwise dancefloor fusionists Livity Sound might just be the closest thing Bristol has to a "supergroup". Since dropping their debut 12" back in 2011, the trio of Peverelist, Kowton and Asusu has impressed with their forthright but atmospheric blends of techno, bass music, dub, shuffling house and wonky electronics. This extended, two-disc debut album brings together all of their previously vinyl-only releases to date, complimenting them with previously unheard cuts and rearranged workouts. It's an impressive collection, flitting between fuzzy, dub-inspired techno (Pev & Asusu's "Surge"), drum machine-and-bongo workouts (Pev & Kowton's "Vapours"), undulating late night rhythms (Pev's "Saltwater") and hissing, jacking intensity (Pev & Kowton's "Raw Code").

Review: KZA's Let's Get Lost imprint has long been one of the more reliable sources of top quality re-edits and reworks. This is largely down to KZA's open-minded approach; you're just as likely to hear some off-kilter proto house, Latin soul or wonky funk as straight-up disco. This second, limited-edition label compilation combines previously released, hard-to-find material with a smattering of exclusives, including a brilliant Gino Soccio re-dub from Eddie C and a rush-inducing, piano-laden early house jam re-cut by Jacques Renault (it's well Balearic). With a never-before-heard cut from Marco Dionigi and Daniele Baldelli (the sublime "Frozen"), rounding off the fun, Let's Get Lost Vol 2 is nigh on essential. Don't sleep.

Review: Last year's Magic Cyrcles, Psychemagik's willy-waving exercise in psychedelic disco and rock crate digging, was something of a triumph. It's little surprise, then, that this follow-up is every bit as essential. If anything, the selections are even more obscure, while the vibe is slightly more Balearic - whilst, of course, retaining the acid-fried oddness of its predecessor. Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the woozy synths and wide-eyed, feelgood grooves of Fox's "The Juggler", and Steve and Theresa's folksy "Catching A Wave", to the horizontal pop of former porn acrtress Susana Estrada, and Joey Newman's Roxy Music-ish "The One You Love". Recommended.

Review: Despite the nebulous Sandwell District label ceasing operations at the end of 2011, the name has lived on as a performance based entity with Female and Silent Servant leaving it to be fronted by Karl 'Regis' O'Connor and Sumner. Thus the latter two step forth to man the figurative decks for this stunning induction into the Fabric mix series. Productions from the pair feature heavily, with several tracks from Function's recent Incubation brushing up alongside several of Regis' recent remixes for Blackest Ever Black and VCMG, while Sandwell alumni Silent Servant and Rrose also feature in the form of "A Path Eternal" and "Wedge" respectively. There are also a few surprises in the form of Untold's "Motion The Dance" and Factory Floor's "16-2-16-9-20-1-14-9-7?, which are joined by experimental fare from Boyd Rice and Samuel Kerridge. A must for fans of Sandwell District.

Review: Arguably the most recognisable of Panorama Bar's resident DJs, Steffi follows Cassy, Tama Sumo, Prosumer and Nick Hoppner in cooking up the fifth batch of tracks to make the Panorama Bar mix series. Exclusive material comes from Big Strick, Fred P, Dexter, Juju & Jordash and Steffi herself, while other house cuts come from former drum and bass staples Endian (Commix) and Trevino (Marcus Intalex). Other veterans to feature in the mix include DJ Skull with his original '93 pressing "Don't Stop The Beat", while Steven Tang's Obsolete Music Technology chips in with "Latency". Newer sounds come from Fear Of Flying's BLM, US-based deep house producer Chris Mitchell, DJ Fett Burger and Will Martin collaboration with John Barera; one half of Boston outfit B-Tracks.

Review: What a decade 1970-1980 was for French music! Featuring well-known Gaelic cosmic pioneers such as Serge Gainsbourg and Jean Michel Jarre and slightly less prolific space cadets such as The Atomic Crocus and Quartz, this is an immaculate document that celebrates and applauds some of the most influential music to have emerged in Europe during the 70s. Listen to tracks such as Space's "Magic Fly" or Pierre Bachelet's "Motel Show" and you'll hear three decades of disco and synth music that followed. Immaculately compiled and presented, this is one history lesson everyone would benefit from digesting. Bon Voyage!

Review: Calibre has always been one of the more thoughtful members of the drum & bass fraternity, with a passion not just for rumbling rhythms, but also pleasing musicality. It's these two sonic traits that come to the fore on FabricLive 68, his first contribution to the London super club's long running mix series. While there are plenty of sublime moments punctuated by punchy percussion, it's the more fluid, musically complex tracks that stand out (see the twinkling pianos of DRS's "Keep The Faith", Marky & SPY's carnival-tastic "Yellow Shoes (Calibre Remix)" and Zero's "Inner City Life"-ish "Refusal"). As a result, FabricLive 68 is a loose, languid journey through D&B's greener pastures.

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: With the sun attempting to peep through the clouds and treat British festival-goers to some much-needed warmth, the time is right for Hospital to drop the latest installment in their annual Summer Drum & Bass series. By now, we should all know what to expect, namely festival-friendly anthems, simmering rollers and the sort of heavyweight jams that should tickle the fancy of all but the most restrained of ravers. Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the grandiose builds of Fred V and Garalix's "Basilik", and touchy-feely chords and smashing beats of Danny Byrd's Roni Size hook-up "Grit", to the old skool jungle rhythms and glittering melodies of High Contrast's "Some Things Never Change".

Review: Unless you've been living in a cave up a remote Scottish mountain for the past few years, you can't have failed to notice the unrelenting success of Damian Lazarus's Crosstown Rebels label. Here, he hands over the controls to Subb-An for a two-disc mix-up of 2012 label highlights that comes bundled with a third disc of unmixed favourites. There's little particularly revelatory, though that's hardly the point; as a showcase of the slinky, touchy-feely, subterranean groovery at which the label excels, it's near perfect. There are one or two surprises - see Subb-An's remix of Tiga classic "Pleasure from the Bass" - as well as hot cuts from the likes of Jamie Jones, Fur Coat, Laura Jones and Maceo Plex.

Review: Astrolab's first Treasure Hunting compilation, released earlier this year, was something of a must-have, delivering a range of weird and wonderful collection of analogue machine music in a range of styles and tempos. Thankfully, this follow-up is every bit as engaging as its predecessor. Ranging from sparse alien funk (see Red Axes v Moscoman's "Wire Conflict") and clandestine synth-chug (Vosper's "Interstate"), to woozy new wave (Ivan Smagghe's memorable version of VoX LoW's "I Wanna See The Light"), via bubbling acid (Marc Pinol), tactile Italo (Eskimo Twins) and wonky kosmiche (Club Bizarre), Treasure Hunting 2 delivers from start to finish.

Review: There was a time, sometime around the mid 2000s, that the Balance series was a byword for quality DJ mixes. While recent volumes haven't been quite so revelatory, this latest instalment from Radio Slave man Matt Edwards is excellent. As you'd expect, it flows brilliantly, with the first disc - the more club-friendly of the two - flitting between melodic deepness, late nights shufflers (see the odd synth solos of Timeline's "Ghosts of Graystone"), hypnotic grooves (an excellent Fred P remix of Nina Kraviz) and afro-centric oddities (No Smoke, Brotherhood, Joe Clausell remixing Edwards project The Machine). Really, though, it's the second CD - a fantastic downtempo exploration featuring modern classical, bubbling ambience and stoned hip-hop - that really stands out.

Review: San Francisco-based crate digger, DJ and producer James Glass is the latest disco nerd to take up Joey Negro's invitation to show off about the depth of his record collection. Predictably, his two-disc selection is packed full of unknown and unheralded gems, from the post-disco weirdness of Electric Chairs' " So Many Ways" to the shuffling, Wurlitzer organ-boasting "Nervoso" by Rexy, and Expansives' quirky electrofunk jam "Life With You (Instrumental)". A word, too, for the "Cocaine in My Brain"-inspired reggae disco goodness of Harold Butler's "Do It Anyday", which is a summer anthem in waiting.