This two-disc set is a retrospective featuring highlights from the Distinctive label's respected Y4K mix series. Disc one features breakbeat tracks from the label's Distinctive Breaks imprint, while the second one focuses on house music from the home label. The breaks disc holds no surprises -- a couple of typically great mixes by
Dub Pistols, a knockout vocal number by
Way Out West called "Intensity" (featured here in a twisted dub mix), cool
Hybrid mixes of tracks by Golden Girls ("Kinetic") and
Kevin Aviance ("Din Da Da"). More surprising, and pleasantly so, is the house disc, which manages to avoid the pitfalls that bedevil the vast majority of house compilations by featuring carefully crafted compositions and actual songs rather than interminable thumpathons overlaid with breathy and endlessly repeated dancefloor clichés.
New Order's
Peter Hook makes a welcome appearance on the slightly overlong but nicely crafted "True to Form";
Dub Pistols combine house with punky reggae on "Problem Is"; and even Neruda's instrumental "West Ghost" offers enough textural and thematic variety to maintain the listener's interest. Package a better-than-average breaks program with a much-better-than-average house program in a single set and you've got something guaranteed to spice up your summer. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson