Various Artists Fabric 30: Rub-N-Tug

If you haven’t been to a Rub-N-Tug party, there’s little better incentive to go than this mix, where Eric Duncan and Thomas Bullock show off the killer dancefloor instincts that have made their soirees so legendary. Packed with house and disco, both pounding (“Let’s Get Busy” from Curtis McClaine and On the House) and electro-fueled (“No Exit” by Rufuss), Fabric30 favors tracks with more to offer than just formulaic 4/4 thumps. The sometimes-uneven mixing zips through 16 tunes and an intro and, while it’s not as good as going to the party, it’s not bad, either.

Kaito Hundred Million Love Years

There’s a fine line between innovation and gimmick, and Hiroshi Watanabe, on his fourth full-length for Kompakt, sometimes crosses it. Hundred Million Love Years is the beat-less accompaniment (no percussion or bass) to his previous Hundred Million Light Years, an album full of warm, pop-flavored trance. On Love Years, Watanabe’s layered synths sound lovely but they’re without structure and indistinct from one another. The result is a little too chilled out. There are moments of beauty, but a little goes a long way; listening to the whole record is like making a meal of cotton candy: tasty, but too airy to satisfy.

Chimp Beams Menina

Critics typically classify Chimp Beams as three Japanese electronic-dub dudes, but Mari, K-Go, and U-Ske are more accurately Brooklynites who filter their smooth downtempo sounds through the ragged textures of urban living. Menina is a vibrant collection of moods, conjuring visions of lonely cityscapes (“11217”) and calm, crisp, melodic moments (“Menina”). Check MC Roger Kahlon’s mesmerizing flow on one of the Chimps’ most compelling tracks, the dub-centric, jazz-inflected hip-hop cut “Synthesized”-it’ll make you yearn for more.

Benni Hemm Hemm Kajak

What kind of music comes out of Iceland besides that of Björk and Sigur Rós? Benedikt H. Hermannsson offers a new answer: quiet, upbeat folk tunes, shaped from things like kettledrums and guitars. Kajak is Benni’s second full-length, and if foreign vocal folk is your thang, it works nicely as a whole: These 13 tracks move easily from one to the next (even if you don’t speak Icelandic)–all pleasant stuff. But Morr fans seeking electronics with their acoustic melodies may be disappointed, as Benni only has room for acoustic sounds this time around.

Frank N Dank Xtended Play Version 3.13

J Dilla fans already know what the deal is with Frank N Dank, the blunted Detroit duo who honed their flows on classic releases like Welcome 2 Detroit and Jaylib’s Champion Sound. While Dilla produced only three tracks on their long-awaited proper debut, it’s the beats-from a committee that includes Oh No and Toronto rhyme vets-turned-beatmakers Saukrates and Kardinal Offishall-that steal the show. Not to be outshined entirely, FND’s endearingly lazy rhyme style works well on tracks like “What Up,” a Ludacris-esque club banger. At 17 tracks and 55 minutes, however, Xtended Play feels a bit too long.

Various Artists Cerrone by Bob Sinclar

Though the space-tastic “Supernature” and endless groover “Love In C Minor” might rival Giorgio Moroder’s best work, Jean-Marc Cerrone hasn’t been quite as lionized by second-generation disco listeners. Fellow Frenchman Bob Sinclar’s mix CD does its best to give Cerrone his due, updating his late-’70s and early-’80s sounds for modern dancefloors with rewarding results. It’s immediately clear how much influence early ’80s Cerrone productions like Don Ray’s “Standing in the Rain” and B-boy favorite “Rocket in the Pocket” had on Daft Punk, for instance. If nothing else, Cerrone is a top-notch primer on the evolution of French dance music.

Wonder Welcome To Wonderland

Former Roll Deep Crew member Wonder is a talented producer but he could use a lesson in album crafting. His debut LP, Welcome To Wonderland, is incredibly frontloaded, crumbling under the weight of its brilliant first three tracks (“God’s Gift Intro 2002 Dubplate” featuring raw toaster God’s Gift; “Chi Flute,” an Eastern-flavored dubstep instrumental; and “What Have You Done,” a monster single featuring Kano, which was on more than a few grime comps last year). While that triumvirate establishes a certain energy and ease in switching gears between moody dubstep and anthemic grime, the rest of Welcome is typified by less impressive instrumentals and vocal tracks featuring MCs (Bruza, Fraction G) and singers (Mpho Skeef, Gemma Fox) who lack God’s Gift and Kano’s charm.

Gary Davis Chocolate Star: The Very Best of Gary Davis

Eccentric producer Gary Davis’ Chocolate Star Records would later issue bass records out of West Palm Beach but, in its early-’80s New Jersey days, the label was primarily an outlet for Davis’ own P&P Records-style funkiness. A re-lick of “Gotta Get Your Love,” which Davis originally wrote and produced for Clyde Alexander and Sanction, is among several songs derived from Davis’ days with Peter Brown, but it’s the Funkadelic-style freakout “The Professor’s Here” and Chocolate Star cohort Dennis “DJ” Jones’ early LinnDrum hip-hop jam “The Pop” that are the true gems of this archaeological dig.

Ta’Raach & The Lovelution The Fevers

Better known from his Detroit days as an MC, The Fevers finds Ta’Raach (formerly Lacks) doing his take on the sloppy but slinky hip-hop production style associated with the D, forsaking the mic altogether to concentrate on crafting tracks like “I Name (E.G.I.G.)” and “Liberation Lullaby” for former D12 MC Fuzz Scoota and Bugz in the Attic vocalist Joy Jones, respectively. Interludes like “F#@k Music” establish a playful vibe, but it’s mining psychedelic samples on “Big Bang Theory” and “Hey” where The Fevers is at its best, and where Ta’raach is in his comfort zone as a lyricist.

Various Artists 7 Up!

7″ Up compiles a dozen singles by obscure UK post-punk bands that heard the DIY call-to-arms in the early Thatcher years. Inside you’ll find great protest songs, comedy, and punchy antidotes to boredom as well as musical and lyrical salvos from future members of The Fall, Public Image Limited, and Pigface. Contact’s “Constant Beat” has a basement-humid groove that’s even funkier than the almighty Gang of Four, and I Jog & The Tracksuits leads a pub sing-along about waiting for something that never happens. The surprise is They Must Be Russians’ lecture on gonorrhea, syphilis, and other delights.

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