Clubbers Guide to 2008 is the latest installment in Ministry of Sound’s revered series. The head honchos at MOS have given two of Australia’s finest recent exports, Sam La More and Hook ‘n’ Sling, the controls for this double disc mix compilation. Featuring some of the biggest names in house and electro – Armand Van Helden, Fedde Le Grand, Plump DJs, Tocadisco and Australia’s finest The Presets, PNAU and Rogue Traders – Clubbers Guide to 2008 is everything you’d expect from the series. There’s no room for mediocrity on this album as 37 huge anthems are squeezed into two big discs. With no fillers in sight, every track featured is a damaging dance floor destroyer in its own right.

As previously mentioned, the flavour for this album is distinctly big-room MOS electro house: they’re not really ones for too much experimentation. They know their market, they know what their fans love and they deliver exactly that. Easy. And it’s that same big room electro house that’s getting flayed by every second club DJ all across Australia. While our nation’s clubbers have been dining out on this sound for the past 18 months, La More & Hook ‘n’ Sling have managed to serve up a uniquely ‘fresh’ 5 course meal based on the staple MOS electro-house diet.

Sam La More flies the Aussie flag immediately on his CD, with inclusions from two of Australia’s finest live acts, PNAU and The Presets. Wild Strawberries is the latest single to come from PNAU and is followed by The Presets latest piece of production gold My People. The latter is a crunching electro house number that’s simply one of the most infectious tunes I’ve had the pleasure of hearing in the past 18 months. The Presets aren’t ‘back’, because they never left. Still one of Australia’s finest live acts & producers. And the recent trend in electro house has also bred a new form of fashion for to go along with it, that being the fluoro so loved by Generation Y clubbers that have populated Australia’s festivals with their colourful 1980s get up. La More services that section of the market with 11h30, Rise Up and The Nightrain, which all wouldn’t look out of place in a 1980’s establishment.

In his mix, La More touches on nearly all of electro houses inner guises, with the now standard electro/rock remixes with Faker This Heart Attack, broken beat electro Crazy, Bamboo, 12 Inch Therapy, Multistorey and Dark Beat; and then of course the stock standard straight up electro-house numbers like Integral and Alloy Mental Allow Mental, which it must be said is a personal favourite of mine. His mix is tight, well programmed and well executed. It’s everything you expect from a typical electro-house mix although it has a few glitches and experimental moments that break the mix up nicely.

Flipping into disc two and one of the world’s hottest electro/house at the moment, Hook ‘n’ Sling, loads up for 76 minutes of down right debauchery! Proudly Australian, Hook ‘n’ Sling has been causing tidal waves over the past 12 months with a huge number of releases and remixes. Following the opener Get Down, Sling gives us the latest releases from two of the world’s biggest names in house and electro: Armand Van Helden with Playmate, and Fedde Le Grand with 3 Minutes to Explain. Both of which are ‘standard’ to say the least. Sex Weed follows and is a slight improvement, but doesn’t hold a candle to one of the tracks of the entire album, 30HZ Daddio. This groovy electro thumper is distinctly different to any other sound I’ve heard previously, and kick starts Sling’s mix in the right direction.

One of ‘the’ biggest tracks at the moment is next in line courtesy of Splitter, and unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 12 months it would’ve been impossible not to have heard All Alone. One of the highlights of this album. And Sling’s overall sound is distinctly different to that of La More. He pushes more of the ‘live’ electro feel, with the sound leaning more towards something you’d hear from The Presets, PNAU or Rogue Traders rather than from a DJ in a club set, such as Better Begin, Sex Weed and All Alone.

Sling delivers some crunchy broken beat electro through the middle of the mix with Tetris, System Addict and his his very own Plastic Wrap, which is a highlight in itself. The mix drives all the way to the finish line with some uplifting, yet driving electro house with Leave The Lights On, With Every Heartbeat and War Paint before finishing with the devastating Deadmau5 single Not Exactly. it really is the cherry on what is a delicious two disc cake.

Both Sam La More & Hook ‘n’ Sling have showcased here the reason for their rapid rise to stardom. While both discs are uniquely distinct with their sound and programming, the album as a whole gives a solid representation of where the majority of Australian clubbers are at home. If this is a snapshot of what this year’s clubbing is in store, then clubbers can look forward to one hell of a 2008.

Tracklisting:

Disc One – Sam La More

1. PNAU – Wild Strawberries (Sam La More Remix)
2. The Presets – My People (DIM Remix)
3. Danger – 11h30
4. Faker – This Heart Attack (Miami Horror Remix)
5. Cicada – Beautiful (Electric Blue) (Michael Gray Vocal Remix)
6. The Aston Shuffle – For Everyone (Klaus Hill Remix)
7. Rogue Traders – Better In The Dark (Klaus Hill Remix)
8. Alter Ego – Why Not?! (Joakim Remix)
9. 9Robb G – 12 Inch Therapy (Bass Kleph’s Dirty Ows Mix)
10. Bitrok – Crazy (Klaus Hill Remix)
11. DJ Disciple – Rise Up (Jesse Garcia Remix)
12. D.O.N.S. & DBN feat. Kadoc – The Nighttrain
13. Kamisshake – Dark Beat
14. Solee – Impressed
15. Popof – Alcoolic
16. Rainer Weichhold – Bamboo
17. Pet Shop Boys – Integral (Dave Spoon Mix)
18. Kut & Swel – Stone Fox Chase
19. Koma + Bones – Multistorey
20. Alloy Mental – Alloy Mental (Boyz Noise Remix)

Disc Two – Hook n Sling

1. Mowgli – Get Down (Mowgli’s Hip House Mix)
2. Armand Van Helden feat. Roxy Cottontail & Lacole ‘Tigga’ Campbell – Playmate (Jesse Rose Remix)
3. Fedde Le Grand & Funkerman feat. Dorothy & Andy Sherman – 3 Minutes To Explain
4. Juice String – Sex Weed (Laidback Luke Mix)
5. 30HZ – Daddio (Myles Dyson Remix)
6. Splittr – All Alone (Alex Metric Remix)
7. Tocadisco feat. Lennart A. Salomon – Better Begin (Alex Gopher Remix)
8. Hook n Sling – Plastic Wrap
9. Plump DJs – System Addict
10. Kid Dub – Tetris (Tocadisco Remix)
11. John Dahlbäck – Hustle Up
12. Darren Mase feat. Dirty Flavour – Dirty Playroom
13. Noel Sinner – Pull Over (Dabruck & Klein Remix)
14. Turntable Orchestra – You’re Gonna Miss Me (The Simple Bass Edit)
15. Cobra Dukes – Leave The Light On (Hook n Sling Remix)
16. Robyn with Kleerup – With Every Heartbeat (Tong And Spoon Wonderland Remix)
17. Poxymusic feat. Gina Mitchell – War Paint (Claude VonStroke Remix)
18. Deadmau5 – Not Exactly