This is an unapologetic stopgap release, a compilation of rare, previously unreleased, and "classic" remixes by French hip-hop and electro producer
DJ Mehdi designed to tide his fans over until his next proper album. Most of the artists collected here will probably be unfamiliar unless you follow cutting-edge European club music pretty closely, but a good number of them will come as a happy discovery. You'll hear old-school soul from
Staygold (the excellent "Justify"), slightly clunky but tunefully cool synth pop from
Architecture in Helsinki and
Chromeo ("In Case We Die" and "Waiting for You," respectively), and straight-up house from
Sam Sparro (the perfectly serviceable "21st Century Life"). The album's highlight is the simply lovely club anthem "Lights Out" by
Santigold, but some of its other high points are also some of its strangest, such as the deeply sonically quirky "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" by
CSS (which, surprisingly enough, is not one of the two not-safe-for-airplay tracks on this album) and the booming, church-bells-and-glitches hip-hop workout "To Protect and Entertain" (which is). Maybe not an entirely revelatory collection, but nicely satisfying nevertheless. ~ Rick Anderson