Bestsellers This Week

Review: With the imminent return of Daft Punk reminding us all of Paris's vibrant electronic music heritage, local label ClekClekBoom pop-up to provide us with a wide-eyed snapshot of the current Parisian underground. There are hints of familiar French staples - the stomping Ed Banger-ish ravery of The Town's "Dice", the classic house flex of Coni's "Missing You Nire" - but for the most part Paris Club Music Volume 1 dances to a different beat. With label regulars French Fries coming to the fore, much of the album is devoted to the sort of hard-to-pigeonhole bass music that takes its influence as much from B-more, R&B and UK garage as filter funk and electro-house.

Review: If dance music was professional sport, the Dirtybird roster would be in the premier league, with Claude Vonstroke the whip cracking manager. Here he rounds up his top players for an exhibition match, allowing them to flex their muscle and strut their stuff. It's all killer, no filler, dirty house music - highlights of which include the nasty funk of Justin Martin & Ardalan's "Wheelgunner", Munnibrotherz's sweet n sour "Drum Machine", the future-booty-bass of "Black Girls White Girls" and the surprisingly techno "Coefficient" by J Phlip.

Review: Born into life kicking and screaming back in 2010, London via North Devon label Shifting Peaks has slowly but surely earned a killer rep in the world of bass and underground house. This is their second compilation and boy is it packed full of goodies. Highlights include the melancholic urban-tropical vibes of Mak & Pasteman's "Do The Same", the psychedelic Chicago vibes of Marshall Jefferson & Noose Heads' "Mushrooms", the heartbroken jukeisms of Cut Off! Cut Off!'s "Second To None" and the sublime King Of Arabs' "The Years Without Art".

Review: Despite only unveiling themselves to the public in 2010, Black Butter Records have already ascended to some impressive heights with a string of hugely popular bass/UKF releases. This first 'proper' label comp features five names from their roster, remixed by many more. It's literally fizzing and popping with retro-futuristic ideas and sounds: from the B-more drum machine orgy of "Be More (3hrs & Woz mix), to Matta's accelerated electro version of Kidnap Kid's classic "Vehl" and Vince Clarke's elasticated tech-house version of "Lazarus Taxon", to the scuzzy, rave-inflected house of Codec's "What You Need", the thoroughly ominous bass tones of "Hackney Heat" by Racknruin via the eccentric end-of the world beats of "Trick Green" by Hostage.

Review: Finland's Top Billin fulfill their New Year resolutions by releasing their now traditional two January compilations. Hot on the heels of their 'Best Of 2012' collection, label co-founder Sir Nenis presents this assortment of bangers that didn't manage to fit on to any particular release last year. The quality's still right up there though, and highlights include the Chicago-ish stomp of "Cherry Lotion" by Fisky, haunted hip-house booty track "Ghetto Starr" by Top Billin and DJ Venum, the Inner City on downers vibe of "Yo" by Harkan and the melancholic retro rave of "Feel Good" by Fobator.

Review: San Francisco's Hot n Heavy Recordings mark their third birthday with a new action packed compilation, released on the symbolic date of 12/12/12. Featuring 14 fresh cuts spanning future bass, deep house and leftfield garage. Highlights include the tropical melancholia of Laney's "You Need To", the menacing minimal vibes of "Hairdresser" by Allmostt, the sparse, abstract garage of HxDB's "Spectator" and the slammin' raw, retro house of "Darlin" by D3adl1ne.

Review: Wonderfully titled label Slime was founded in 2010 with the firm intent to 're-capture the wide-eyed thrill of the first age of rave'. Since then they have put out a multitude of forward thinking releases all leading to this, their second label compilation. Literally bulging with underground goodness, the tracklist weighs in at 26 full-length tunes (plus a free one!). Highlights of all this madness include the sparse 2 step of "Jaded" by Akin, the twitching, percussive "Sunwan" by SPD, the dreamy 3am RnB vibes of "Communication" by Totte, the deeply seductive rimshot house of DYP's "Vices" and the ominous rave of "There's No Way" by Frequent Flyers.

Review: The second instalment of Brownswood's Worldwide Family series sees LA crate-digger Kutmah at the helm. A contemporary of The Gaslamp Killer, Gonjasufi and Flying Lotus (whose previously unreleased, Eastern-scaled "Samsfav" is included here), Kutmah mixes alt hip-hop like The Darkhorseman's "Taking Over Empires" with low-riding Dilla-esque funk such as Tehbis' excellent "Higher", and juke-tempoed haziness from Mono/Poly's "With Grace". Among these excellent 21 selections is also an unreleased Hudson Mohawke jam - "Are You Feeling Hot" - which fits in perfectly with the overall weird and warped slo-mo vibe.

Review: Founded back in 2007, London imprint 2nd Drop has deftly steered its way through the post dubstep fracture across some twenty releases. Arriving at their fifth & a half anniversary, the label offers up a thrilling snapshot of their enduring diversity on their maiden compilation Future Foundations. Familiar label names like Djrum and South London Ordnance offer their atmospherically swung take on dub techno, while label newcomers like Last Magpie and Alex Coulton provide some bouncy, UKG inspired techno. However, it's the frenetic jungle-inspired take on footwaork from Manni Dee and Deft that offers the biggest surprise in what is an already essential compilation.

Review: You could never accuse UrbanWorld of delivering compilations with confusing titles. You see, Global Bass Vol 3 delivers exactly what you'd expect - a kaleidoscopic collection of bass music flavours from around the world. There's humming Brazilian beats (Los Chicos Altos), funk-infused tango-step (Superpendejos), middle eastern shuffle (Silver Bullit), dubwise African hip-hop/breaks (Jalan Surabaya), Brazilian/Arabic B-more fusions (Pops Jabu) and wizened South American cumbia (Agencia Sonoria). Oh, and loads more besides. Whether or not you usually check out "world music", this is well worth further investigation.

Review: Mixed live by DJ Beenie, Garage Kiss: Sounds of the Underground Vol. 1 is a compilation that features 25 of the garage underground's biggest tracks, showcasing the best of the new wave of UK garage talent. Highlights include The Next Room's "Turning Point", whose horn samples recall Roy Davis Jr's classic "Gabriel", Fuzzy Logik's "Playground", which weaves a tightly rolling UK Funky beat and fat bassline around Myshy's catchy vocal action and jazzy, bright synth melody, and Danny B-Line's refix of Redlight's "Source 16", wrapping a bass squelch around rave whistles and hollow snares. As skillful as DJ Beenie's mixing is, the superb selections also come as unmixed original tracks.

Review: Mixed by RacknRuin, this first journey into the vaults of the Black Butter label throws up some huge grime/UKF bangers. A label that's been showcased by Annie Mac and Zane Lowe in recent months, Black Butter artists like Tomb Crew, Marco Del Horno, Warrior One and Rudimental get put through their paces over these 16 tracks -available either individually or as one continuous mix by Racknruin. Definite highlights include Hostage's deadly remix of Noisses' "The Don" and Warrior One's jungle-influenced take on RacknRuin's own Jessie Ware-hook up, "Soundclash".

Review: In the mid-noughties this Italian outfit raised the bar for electro producers everywhere with their clever blend of fidget-house and baile funk beats. This album is basically a 'Best Of..., and features a whopping 47 tracks both as a DJ mix and as separate files. No stone is left unturned, and all their pivotal work so far is here: from the early attention grabbing releases ("We Are All Prostitutes", "Atomic Baile Boy" and their Chemical Brothers remix) to a host of new exclusives (including "Bad Men, "Don't Just Stand There" and 'Sbomberz") via some pretty high profile hook ups with the likes of Kelis, Major Lazer and Roisin Murphy.

Review: Pooling the best of San Francisco's 2-step, future garage and bass scene, Hot N Heavy's third volume in this series is a top source of some seriously impressive, upcoming talent. Kasio's opening "Back To The Garage" is straight-up stunning, with incredibly deep oceanic pads filtered down magnificently to a drop of crunchy and twitchy drums. Similarly, Red Army, Reilly Steel, Commodore 69 and Ground Control all prove more than a match for British kindred spirits like Joy O, Pearson Sound and the Night Slugs crew.