Believe it or not, this is Layo & Bushwacka's first foray into the compilation market, and it's to their immense credit as they force into the reckoning with an organic, original pair of mixes.
'All Night Long' kicks off with slow-ish breaks, nocturnal grooves that get us in the mood for the ride. Tracks like the Detroit Experiment's 'Vernors' and the duo's own remix of Orbital's 'Funny Break' set the scene perfectly, and as the breaks section begins to flag it's the Detroiters again who step up with the discofied 'Think Twice', taking it to a higher level. There's no looking back from here, with further four to the floor groovers from Seelenluft via Ewan Pearson' studio and the obscenely high vocals of Johnny Fiasco, before 'Loveless', a rather tasty orchestral breaks number from 4 Hero, closes out part one.
Part two is simply outstanding. It's a mix of tech-house and electro, driving forward with an unstoppable momentum. There's no tracks to skip here, but a few to elevate - the pumpin 'Simularity' from Funk Device, James Benitez' 'Starchaser' and Bushwacka's huge bass that underpins DePeche Mode's 'Dream On' - believe me you won't recognise it from the original!
So whilst the obvious question to ask these two is 'what took you so long?', let's be grateful to Layo and Bushwacka! for one of the mix albums of the year. It won't be leaving my stereo for some time, that's for sure...
|  Other End Recordings reviews
|
