It is definitely a problem that has been facing dance label compilations this year; trailblazing houses of unhinged, fucked up future funk have rudely shaken awake the collective mainstream and consequently had its foul, hot breath on their sweet necks for years, but for some reason ’07 seems to be the year once invincible labels like Kitsune Maison got snatched. The early releases of this mighty label, quite possibly responsible for some of the most unhinged rock/dance crossover mayhem and the resurgence of rave chic, were stupendously, outrageously off the wall. Kitsune broke acts as diverse and fascinating as Simian Mobile Disco, Hot Chip and Digitalism and can point to Bloc Party and Architecture In Helsinki as good pals. Defined by that effervesant French cool and designed by a post-trance scene intent on making dance floor destruction anarchic and ruthlessly fun, Kitsune Maison is a true staple of modern dance music.

But that mantle has an inevitable down point, particularly in a year where fleuro head bands and baggy flannel shirts have flooded the mainstream, Midnight Juggernaughts are on 2day FM and you could play ‘punch a pattern hoodie’ at a music festival and be black and blue after 20 minutes. That hyper-real sound steeped in a nostalgic, cartoon violence aesthetic and a musicality derived from the most outlandish trance arpeggio’s (lets face it when Riot In Belgium are dropping William Orbits Ardagio For Strings in sets their ain’t much separating a lot of neu-rave from ATB or Sash!) was always going to have an expiry date and while Kitsune Maison are undoubtedly a great label, their new compilation definitely walks a fine line.

Take Divebomb’s clunky Commodore 64 riddled mess The Whip; so strangely atonal and deliberately amateur that its tongue in cheek approach leaves you feeling empty. Or Hadouken’s disastrous Tuning In which sounds like East 17 doing Karaoke down at a Shibuya arcade dance off. It totally belies the craftiness and musicality this label was founded on, but is indicative of what is going on in this movement; people substituting youthful inventiveness for below par formulaic trash going for the cheap thrills. More on the money is Boize Noize stonking remix of Feist’s My Moon My Man coming off all Two Lone Swordsman until a blissfully off kilter harpsichord takes you soaring past Pluto. Midnight Juggernaughts are probably the breakthrough local act of 2007 and their stuttering, strutting remix of I Get Around screams at you like a flash of fleuro on the dancefloor at Onelove. Riot In Belgium, hipper and hotter than most, as their packed, steamy sets at Splendor showed, have their tune La Musique tweaked into an acid house monster with filthy analogue dribbles offsetting CK gold drenched piano lines, it’s gloriously gnarly stuff reminiscent of early Simian Mobile Disco.

What the future holds for this sound, and indeed this label is uncertain, but hey who am I to judge after all pattern BAPE hoodies and American Apparel V necks are still going out the door like hotcakes and retro Le Specs sunnies are essential on every dance floor to shield you from whirls of fleuro. This is delirious disposable dance music that walks the fine line between cool and contrived.