The Hospital Mix series is Hospital Records’ quasi-annual showcase of their best and brightest tunes. After a hiatus stretching back to the first volume, label captain Tony Coleman is once again back at the series’ helm. Previous instalments from Tomahawk, Nu:Tone and Cyantific have each raised the bar. Coleman’s return, however, proves that no one does liquid quite like London Elektricity.

To mark his return, Coleman has doubled the musical output of Hospital Mix 1, condensing 30 tunes into an ultra-smooth drum and bass extravaganza. Most tracks surface for only about a minute and a half, though the main hook is always given enough time to breathe. Newcomers to the series will be able to jump right in due to a bounty of inviting vocals, crisp violins, electric pianos and jazzy grooves. Longtime fans will be pleased to discover a solid helping of exclusives as well as the inclusion of all the big Hospital tunes from the past twelve months.

So then to the music. As with every Hospital Mix before it, the opening salvo is truly superb. Danny Byrd’s previously unreleased Under the Sea is a swirling concoction of twinkling keys, spacey vocal samples and overblown hoovers that melts effortlessly into the elastic bounce of Q-Project’s Computer Love. Logistics’ big and brassy Blackout and the bubbly warbling and taught strings of Matrix and Cyantific’s Cover Story follow suit, quickly making way for London Elektricity’s divine Vapour Trails. All this in a manic seven and a half minutes!

The madness doesn’t let up for an instant. Continuing the electric vibes are Logistics’ Haunted by her Yesterdays, the spectral vocals of which smoothly transition into the clownstep of High Contrast’s gurgling newbie, Green Screen. Moving on reveals the stunning, though short-lived, Total Science remix of Q-Project’s Living With Beaker, a tune built around androgynous time-stretched vocals and a bright and upbeat synth line. This graciously surrenders to Logistics’ acid-tipped Falling For You and then current Australian tour favourite, Dkay’s stripped-down take on the Byrdman’s Out of This World. A whirling maelstrom of punchy breaks, looped horns and delicious low end warbling bass, this is a very tidy remix indeed.

Liquid enchantment continues to flow with another Bryd production, the sun soaked sounds of Soul Function. London Elek’s mellifluous The Great Drum and Bass Swindle and two monster rollers from Logistics pave the way for a sterling Makoto remix of the classic Coleman/Goss tune, Rewind. The energised jump-up drum pattern and Liane Carroll’s disarming vocals are truly sublime.

Coleman continues to ramp up the intensity with a head-on collion between Logistics’ charmer Shooting Star and Sonic’s punchy Electrosound: a golden mixture of bold bass lines, haunting synths and eighties-styled computer melodies. Then, before you can blink, Coleman drops the lush soundscapes and nonsensical chanting of Hanging Rock and a blistering followup in the form of High Contrast’s racy remix of Remember the Future.

Index and Bungle’s Hospital exclusive Forgotten Souls – easily the Mix’s musical highlight – surfaces towards the end. The product of two of Brazil’s finest producers, Forgotten Souls had been doing the rounds on indie dubplate as Solitaire. Now with an official Hospital release, Souls is both icy and warm, ominous yet enchanting and is set to quickly become a label classic.

Hospital Mix Five is an essential purchase for any fan of the soulful side of drum and bass. Although it races along at breakneck speed, the tight mixing and golden tunes are as exhilirating as nude train surfing on a locomotive of liquid funk.