Compilation Recommendations August 2011

Review: For many Londoners, it wouldn't be summer without the Notting Hill Carnival and Norman Jay's long-running Good Times Soundsystem. The hat-wearing MBE owner is celebrating 30 years of carnival parties this summer. What better excuse, then, for another breezy, party-centric trawl through the veteran DJ's epic record collection. As usual, the unmixed Good Times 30th Anniversary Edition features a selection of festival-friendly grooves, from dusty old disco, flute-sporting funk and classic soul to bouncy disco-house, head-nodding hip-hop and Red Stripe-swigging reggae riddims. By now, we all know what we're getting, but it's still great fun.

Review: Like the best instalments in the long-running DJ Kicks series, this mix from Motor City Drum Ensemble man Danilo Plessow gives a far better insight into his musical inspirations than his own productions ever could. While there are, naturally, great deep house moments included (Tevo Howard, Mr Fingers, Latecomer etc), these largely take a back seat to Plessow's other musical passions. So, we get soft-focus electric jazz (Sun Ra), dub wise explorations (Tony Allen, Basic Channel), sweet soul (Peven Everett), dusty afro-funk (Geraldo Pino), urgent leftfield disco (Loose Joints, Walter Gibbons) and even a dash of instrumental jazz-funk (James Mason). That it all makes sense musically, flows brilliantly and is effortlessly entertaining is testament to Plessow's skill as a DJ.

Review: With - gulp - a decade of debauched parties now behind them, Gilles Smith and James Priestley are pushing the boat out in celebration. As well as a string of parties, they've put together this deluxe double CD compilation of musical highlights and personal favourites. With Smith and Priestly both serving up their own mix, the quality threshold is consistently high. There are many long-forgotten gems and little known remixes, touching on most of the duo's various inspirations over the last ten years, from slept-on deep house, floor-friendly techno and druggy tech-house to starry-eyed broken beats, body-poppin' jackers and string-laden disco-house.

Review: On this double-disc set, London dubstep don N-Type presents a round-up of the action so far on his acclaimed Wheel & Deal label. The second disc mix provides a fitting showcase for N-Type's undoubted DJ skills -whilst, of course, including a wider range of label material - it's the first, unmixed disc that will be of most interest to DJs. Here, some of Wheel & Deal's best moments to date are presented on CD for the very first time. There's plenty to enjoy, from the Eastern-tinged rhythms of Ben Verse and low-end tech-step wobble of Coki to the sparse dubs of LX One, garage-influenced grooves of Phaeleh and melodic starburst of DJ Madd.

Review: This summer, Hospital Records' party brand Hospitality is hitting the festival circuit hard (Lovebox, Global Gathering etc). To celebrate, they've put together this action-packed mix CD of festival-friendly drum and bass stormers. In the best traditions of the Hospitality parties, it's a real non-stop rinse-out, with a whopping 28 tracks from Hospital regulars (Danny Byrd, Cyantific, Nu:Tone etc) and like-minded souls (D:Minds, Camo & Krooked, SPY) squeezed into an hour. As you'd perhaps expect, the focus is firmly on fun, with bona fide scene anthems wrestling for disc space with arms-raised festival funk-outs and soaring vocal workouts.

Review: As a paid-up member of Seth Troxler's extended Visionquest family, it's perhaps no surprise that Detroit new-schooler Lee Curtiss's contribution to the Watergate club's mix series is brimming with warm, touchy-feely tech-house. From start to finish, Watergate 08 sounds like an audio advert for the Visionquest sound; that pleasingly melodic fusion of heavy low-end, off-kilter synth pop posturing and tactile, MDMA-friendly electronic grooves. It's the sort of effortlessly delicious sound that lends itself well to a mix album, and as a result Watergate 08 is a lovely listen. With superb contributions from Footprintz, Maceo Plex, No Regular Play, Kim-Ann Foxman and Curtiss himself, there's plenty to get excited about.

Review: Having offered up two previous mixes full to bursting with tongue-in-cheek New York disco classics and little-known underground anthems, this third instalment in the Horse Meat Disco series sees residents Jim, James, Luke and Severino broaden their horizons. The first disc, in particular, focuses more on recent disco scene hits, with notable re-edits from Gazeebo, Todd Terje and Leftside Wobble sitting next to contemporary productions from Mungolian Jet Set, Wild Geese and the Glimmers. Yet it's the second CD of lesser-known older nuggets - proto house, string-laden disco, wonky synth-pop etc -that really hits the spot, with a clutch of superb HMD re-edits, a dash of disco-funk and Marcel King's slept-on Hacienda classic "Reach For Love".

Review: It's testament to Radio 1's Heidi's programming skills that she manages to combine a wealth of contemporary approaches without sounding wilfully eclectic. As the title suggests, there is a wealth of jack-based material here, including the juddering vocal samples and swirling synths of Deetron's "The Juggler". But there is also sassy deep house form Anja Schneider and Matt Tolfrey, the infectious, almost sing-along punk funk meets filtered house of The Juan MacLean's "Love in Tatters" and the sample heavy, sexy bassline of Soul Clap. In Heidi's repertoire, no nuance of contemporary house gets left out and the track the mix is named after, by minimal producer Mathias Kaden, featuring Gjaezon, is notable for its bongo drums and entertaining vocal narrative. It may well be the minimal scene's own version of Green Velvet's "Flash".

Review: Under his Timewriter alias, Jean Frank Cochois has been a staple of the European deep house scene for the best part of two decades. Over the years, he's released nearly 90 records and become Plastic City's most successful artist. While he's never been all that celebrated, he's certainly been successful. Here, he showcases his lesser-known DJ skills, laying down two discs of grubby, basement-ready deep house for Plastic City. Those familiar with his production style will know what to expect: hypnotic hooks, tech-tinged deep house rhythms and a vibe that frequently shifts from heady and intoxicating to warm and summery.

Review: Although he's traditionally been bracketed with fellow prog house graduates John Digweed and Nick Warren, Danny Howells has always more strings to his bow than your average progressive house DJ. While the soaring melodies and slow build of prog remain the cornerstones of his production and DJ style, his sets regularly include disco, classic house, tech-house and, of course, deep house. All those styles are touched on in this first DJ mix-come-label comp from Howells' own Dig Deeper label. It's a surprisingly enjoyable and mixed-up beast, with Howells' effortlessly drawing together all manner of breezy, melodic and summery tracks in his own inimitable style.