The Sound of the Cosmos [Box set]

Not only do you get quality, you get quantity. 3 CDs of it. The first CD concentrates on electro and breakbeat. The smooth almost Moby-esque dance-blues of Ils, Middleton's own bootleg/rehash of Sunglasses At Night & Blue Monday all the way to the almost 2 step but sublime Blue Effect and Swag. CD2 goes down the deep house route. The opening few tracks are mixed sublimely with Middleton keeping vocals from tunes he mixes out of, looping quietly over new tracks coming in. You get the classic Telepopmusik, Amillionsons ... perfect summer grooving, the mix takes a darker turn with John Beltran before blissing out again with Herbert and Ananda Project. You don't get many deep house mixes at all these days, so this is a particular joy. CD3 is a more downtempo affair, with chilled ambient beats and summer grooves coming to the fore. Subtle mixing to accompany a hazy day in the sun. From the excellence of ex-Wiseguy Bronx Dogs, to now indie faves FC Kahuna, to little known but cult chill fave Ulrich Schnauss ... you have a laid back selection of grooves without having to head to the obvious selections and mishmash programming of a Ministry chill selection. A CD for every mood.

So there you have it, possibly one of the finest DJ mixes you can ever get! Not one for those looking for Digweed style dark robotic house, but something altogether more ... cosmic. Being a fan of the album I'm naturally pre-disposed to give this a big 5, but just from the 'typical moody DJ' aspect I have I can't help but be astounded by the quality of programming and track selection. It really is amazing. And I have ALOT of DJ mixes. Top marks. If you're into interesting house beats, also check out other Hooj comps like Praxis, Le Future Le Funk. A label really throwing out some quality recently.

The second disc focuses on deep house and showcases some fantastic tracks by artists such as Telepopmusik, Charles Webster, Yann Fontaine and Herbert. All of the tracks are very soulful ranging from vocals to instrumentals. The mixing is excellent and has introduced me to a number of artists that are not very well known as of yet. The duration time for disc two is 74 minutes and 50 seconds.

Disc three foucses on ambient and balearic grooves. Personally, i think that this is the best disc out of the three. It really is an awesome mix of laid back grooves showcasing some excellent tracks by FC Kahuna from their 'Machines Says Yes' album, Groove Armada, Jimpster and a whole host of other artists that will probably be unknown to most. The duration time for disc three is 77 minutes and 18 seconds.

I really cannot recommend 'The Sounds of the Cosmos' highly enough. It is unlikely that you will find a more diverse and eclectic compilation this year and it provides a refreshing change from the predictable anthems that usually appear on compilation discs.

If it is chart anthems that you want to hear, i would suggest that you purchase the latest Cream Anthems, Gatecrasher or Gods Kitchen discs. However, if you want to be exposed to quality melodic electronic music produced by up and coming artists, look no further than 'The Sounds of the Cosmos'.

CD1 - Perhaps the most unusual CD, it concentrates on a more 'weird' sound than CDs 2 or 3. Roots Manuva represents hip-hop, Jori Hulkonnen's 'Sunglasses At Night' the more electro sound of the year along with the more chilled beats of Modaji and Landslide. They combine well enough although it's perhaps what I would regard the weaker of the 3 CDs. Blue Monday does not quite match Sunglasses At Night while the concentration on unreleased tracks lets the quality drop slightly.

CD2 is certainly where it all kicks off. The mix between Telepopmusik's 'Breathe' (contender for track of the year) and Taxi's 'People Come Runnin' is certainly beautiful and would be very difficult to mix in a club and yet perfect for home listening. The middle of the CD again falls slightly below standard again with A Million Sons unreleased track. However, the presence of Charles Webster and his standout track from his debut album, 'Forget The Past' is a slice of the sexiest deep house.

CD3 could be regarded as the chill-out CD although this would tend to be underestimating the quality of tracks on here. Alucidnation's underrated 'Beautiful House' along with Blu Mar Ten's 'Home Movies'and big-hitters such as Rae & Christian and Groove Armada create what is the most accomplished of all three of the CDs.

The Sound of the Cosmos is, despite small flaws, by far the most carefully thought-out project for a long time and is the most brilliant 3 hours in musical paradise you could wish for. Priceless.