Twenty cuts aimed at festival season, and an opener in no hurry: Luke Alessi's 'Sex Machine' starts at 126 BPM and takes almost seven minutes — the longest track in the selection — to lay out its groove. From there things climb in steps: The Trip at 128, Supernova at 130, then a 131 double of 'Chica' and PAWSA's 'Ride On Me', both in D minor, the key that recurs most here (five tracks in all).
Jonas Blue cools things down with 'Girl' on Defected before the first real surprise: the RUZE & Chesster remix of Soulsearcher's 'Feelin' Love', followed by Anil Aras' 'Be Yourself', which according to the data shoots up to 161 BPM, the sharpest tempo jump on the record. A whipcrack that breaks the section's logic and forces you to reset.
The Macklovitch corner
The middle of the journey holds the two milestones with proper names attached. 'The Corner (Piano Mix)' brings together Harry Romero and Austin Ato with Brothers Macklovitch — A-Trak and his brother Dave 1 of Chromeo — on their Rekids debut, a rolling-piano cut that came out as its own EP in June. Three slots later, Dam Swindle sign 'Do What You Want': the Amsterdam duo, with over a decade of house behind their own Heist Recordings, open their account with Prunk's PIV here, and the swing gives it away.
The final stretch tightens up again: Alan Fitzpatrick and Calvin Logue's 'Make It Right' sets the record's ceiling at 133 BPM, Scarlett O'Malley brings the least expected label on the list with 'The Dominator' on Rhythm Section International, and the close falls to Kellie Allen's 'Burning Up', six and a half minutes in A major that send the listen off on a bright note. As a journey, the selection works in waves: it rises, breathes, rises again, and saves the big names for exactly the point where the ear starts asking for reasons to stay.
Sources: Bandcamp · Mixmag NL
