Various Artists - Pure Pacha Vol 3, Mixed by Pete Tong & Sarah Main

Pure Pacha Volume 3 sees Pete Tong & Sarah Main reunite in the sequel of last year’s Pure Pacha Vol. 2. Last year’s instalment saw debutant Sarah Main upstage her more esteemed colleague, Pete Tong , with a fantastic funky house party set. This time the same chunky, funky party styled set from Sarah is prominent on CD 2, but on this occasion Pete Tong gets one over her; with a devastating house mix.

First up is Kris Menace’s Jupiter (Work It Baby), a synth driven trippy little number that opens up the CD incredibly nicely. Following up to this is Unicorn by S.L.A.D.L.Y. which is once again a synthy poppy little number accompanied by some nice percussion and piano beats; a great start to the CD thus far. Next up is Tiefschwarz with Damage (Buick Project Mix). This takes thing down tempo a little and has a fantastic groovy beat accompanied by some chilled out vocals and piano. Number 4 is the highlight of the CD for my money, Julian Jabre’s Swimming Places (Sebastian Ingrosso re-edit). If this tune doesn’t get over-played this summer, then I will be very surprised! This piano infused percussive masterpiece will be massive the country over, and for good reason. This song was made for being played at outdoor festivals to a sea of punters. Put simply; this track moves you.

Jumper by Spiller is a very poor followup, but skipping this little blight on the CD, Tongy jumps straight back into the big guns with one of the biggest tunes of the year, A Little Bit Patchy (Eric Prydz remix) by Switch. Following up with this trendsetter is Put Your Hands Up For Detroit by Fredde Le Grande. 6 months ago when I first heard this song I loved it, truly loved it, but with too much overplay I tended to skip past, though others, especially first time listeners, will be hitting repeat. Song 8 and it’s one of my favourite tracks on the entire compilation, Kurd Maverick with The Rub. It’s got the 3 Ds; deep, dark and driving. What makes this track is the dark, dirty vocal; a fantastic track. The CD then goes missing for the next two songs, perhaps Tongy went to the toilet for 10 minutes, or just put the wrong record on as the CD loses momentum momentarily.

One way to get back on track is to unload a ‘bomb’ (read: floor-filler), and that’s exactly what the Radio One front-man does, with just about the biggest song this year; What Else Is There (Trentemoller Remix) by Royksopp. Towards the end of the CD, and Vibrate (Peter Heller Phela Remix) by Tightrope provides a nice little glitchy electro sound that brings us towards the penultimate track on the CD, The Alchemist with Pursuit of The Groovy (Pete Tong Edit). On The Road is the last song on Tongy’s CD and is a nice little closer for what was and is a fantastic set.

On to CD 2, and Sarah Main takes the reins with a chunky and funky house set. Booka Shade’s subtle In White Rooms starts the CD off nice and gently, as it moves seamlessly into Speechless (Sandy Rivera Mix) by Mish Mash, a reworked old classic. One of the highlights of the second CD; DJ Mas & Paul Cari’s funky house Swingers Delight, is subtle in nature, but really cuts through the air nicely. Hausewerks & Jaymo’s Don’t Stop seems to be going nowhere, then it kicks in with a dirty electro sound that is fresh and penetrating; one of the better songs on the CD. Love Sensation is bad enough to make your ears bleed and you’ll want to skip past this one nice and quickly.

The middle of the CD loses me a bit as Sarah drifts in and out of electro tinged house music, but it’s brought back by Francois Dubois’s Blood (Andy Cato Remix). Don’t You (Richard Grey remix), with a horrible vocal, really isn’t one of Wally Lopez’s better productions in my opinion. Switch once again saves the day though, this time with his Main Mix of the penultimate track on CD 2, Want 2 Need 2 by Sharon Phillips. This beepy, glitchy, electro number really sums up the Switch ‘sound’. The last track of this compilation is Kiko Navarro’s Siempre (Jimpster Remix). Something of a weak track that unfortunately finishes the compilation on a poor note.

Overall Tong’s disc certainly does dwarf Main’s, but that is not to discredit her mix, it’s just that Tongys disk is too good! Most Australian’s will never make it in person to the White Isle that is Ibiza, nor to the famous clubs like Pacha. This compilation brings you about as close to being their in the northern summer as is humanly possible. A must buy for any genuine punter that takes their house with a dash of electro.

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