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Not great, this ‘un. Yotopia is an artist who I’ve never quite fallen in love with, and Blue Moon still doesn’t quite grab me. It’s solid stuff with great layering and half-a-nod to fullon, but it smacks me as being too derivative. The final run is nice, it’s smooth and it’s ticklish but…. it somehow sounds like someone trying very hard to be Freq. Likewise Sensifeel – never really grabbed me, but Gaudium’s remix of his Sunglaces comes together nicely. The layers combine to form this fat, drenchy sound that leaves you wondering quite how it started and where it came from, and the inclusion of a jogging-speed acidline at the end finishes it off nicely.

Lish’s Stereo Talk sees them back in their minimal progressive mode, which seems a lot more sincere and grounded than their semi-fullon costume they wore for last year’s album. It’s delicious, this one: the main melody has the hairs on your neck standing up to attention, the breakdown is one big rush and the subsequent drop is divine. Galactika’s Motion Control is another belter. More energetic, the sounds and layers join the party with a sense of let’s-‘ave-yer enthusiasm without making it too fullpowah. By which I mean, it’s bloody good: cruisy yet determined, laid back yet purposeful. Quality.

The sparse contrast of Earsugar’s Foretaste (Symphonix Remix) is a little unfathomable in terms of album programming. It’s a deep, moody little fella firmly in minimal tech-territory. DJ Martin’s Lauschgift has a huge bottom end, over which there’s some subtle layering and tinkering. It’s all about the bass at the end of the day, which is firmly in that very fashionable bobbing-up-and-down phaser kinda style. Morax’s Ola Bonbon has a glitchy pattern that’s almost break-funk. The sounds are arranged over it like decorations on a Christmas tree – they sort of hang there dotted in certain places, as opposed to blanketing over the whole thing. Interesting, but I can’t help feel it’s putting too much effort into trying to be clever. Finally, Nyquist’s Oliver Twist is a bit of an anthem-in-waiting, very distinctive and at times sounding like a more intelligent Switch. There’s ticklish topends that don’t care whether they’re tonal or atonal, there’s slick sleekstep going on in the groove, and the electro bassline knows exactly when to shift chord to keep you on your toes and guessing.

Not a bad little compilation, but you can’t help thinking that it’s trying very hard to be many things at once. With a lot of progressive around at the moment, it’s commendable to be sliding together the housier and trancier ends, but when the two meet like this in what sounds like a slightly rushed compromise, you can’t help but feel a little cheated.

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