There is no doubting this guy’s talent; in the last 3-4 years he has emerged as the cool remixer du jour – a kind of thinking clubber’s electro craftsman – and although his abrasively addictive sound has been imitated, he has an undeniably influential catalogue the envy of most minimal electo-tech producers out there. But you have gotta feel for the guy. Why? Because that Ableton heavy ketamine techno sound that has taken Trentmoller from Raum compilations to commercial radio was probably because of Radioslave. When the Great Dane was making sublime deep house on Naked Music (still his best work in my humble opinion), Radio Slave was twisting US house clicks into drug fuelled dance floor dramatics like THAT remix of ‘Keep It Down’ by Greenskeepers that literally melted the Terraza at Space all those summers ago. If anything, this guy should have his dues paid to him and this release – a mix CD with a bonus of his remixes on the impeccable Fine label – should be the just exposure Radio Slave deserves. Does he use it wisely? Well, yes and no.

Anyone who caught his recent sets on these shores will testify that Radio Slave has a hugely ambitious sound. Taking in elements of old trance, deep techno and the darker side of house, he really offers no reprieve from a relentless barrage of four to the floor twistedness, so you would expect his mix disc to be a real assault on the senses. At 21 tracks, it’s an intense experience particularly when over half of the tracks are his own remixes, re-edits or originals, but what saves the mix from being incessantly dull – in a market where minimal now means uneventful – is his sense history. You can tell through the weaving and dicing of stuttering grooves and acidic percussion, Radio Slave is a man who loves his techno all the way from Detroit, to Berlin, to Amsterdam, and he tips his hat to icons of techno’s past and present (Vince Watson, RicardoVillalobos, Maurizo). It is a shame then that it takes so long to get going; the first four tracks encompass Radio Slave’s cumbersome rerub of Mocky’s ‘Extended Vacation’ and Roman Flugel’s grimy trance cut ‘Mutter’, which comes complete with cheesy chimes and a drugged up bugle, but it’s all pretty ho-hum-run-of-the-mill-minimal to be truthful.

It’s not until Villalobos (still the most cerebral and indulgent techno producer out there) steps up that the mix shifts into gear. His apocalyptic remix of ‘Blood On My Hands’ by Shackleton is used brilliantly by Radio Slave, who weaves it expertly in and out of The Sheds pulsing ‘Well Done’. Radio Slave plunges deep into the darkness with his remix of Soylent Green; a brooding and bruising homage to Basic Channel, dragging you out of the k-hole with Andromat 3000’s shuffling and sparkling ‘Entracate Music’. He shoots for the stars at the backend of the mix with some mesmerising techno; his own ‘Transistor Radio’ exudes a hypnotic Jeff Mills like Latin funk, while the percussive and penetrative ‘Quicksand’ by Marcel Dettman haunts briefly until legendary producer Vince Watson (still evergreen and inventive) sends daylight streaming through with the solar powered and rapturous ‘Renaissance’. It’s a gorgeous close to an eventually strong mix by Radio Slave, a just representation of his propulsive sets.

The second disc is not, however, a strong representation of him as a producer, with some surprisingly pedestrian inclusions; the 12 minute plus instrumental remix of Jamelia’s ‘Beware The Dog’ is boring, and the less said about his remix of The Pet Shop Boys ‘Minimal’ the better. Some reprieve comes in the inclusion of his classic re-rubs of M.A.N.D.Y. and Carl Craig, but Radio Slave is much, much more talented than this lackluster disc will have you believe. You get the feeling all the best stuff he utilised on CD one. Still, the DJs will love it, and the mix is worth its weight. Maybe I was just expecting a little more from this release.