Now in its fourth incarnation, the Mashed series has aimed to provide something a bit different to the usual Annual and Sessions CDs. Whether its the darker sound, more underground tracks or just lots of mashups (hence the name), the series has catered for the more mature, experienced clubber and music aficionado, with more refined musical tastes than perhaps the the other Ministry of Sound compilations provide. If the Annual is a mocha (hiding the coffee under a chocolate taste), the Sessions are a Latte and the Mashed CDs are border line cappuccino and long black. The espresso of the compilation CD world is best left to the other brands, or perhaps to some of the Ministry of Sound DJ CDs. And Volume 4 of Mashed doesn’t fail to deliver, definitely providing a relative pure undiluted coffee experience. This volume has been mixed by one of the UKs hottest remixers and producers Kissy Sellout, along with Canberra bad boys The Aston Shuffle, who just keep getting better and bigger.

The furst disco mixed by Kissy Sell Out starts off with a bang with Breakaway by Big Pig, and progresses, in very large, glitchy, party-like manner, featuring tracks by Switch, Crookers, KIM, Sinden, Gameboy/Gamegirl as well as Kissy Sell Out himself. This disc is definitely party, and definitely very now,with less traditional electro house, and more baltimore inspired, fidget and glitch tracks. This CD is perhaps less adventurous that the Aston Shuffle mix, but still never fails to satisfy. A surprise finish with a drum and bass remix of Something Good 08 by the Utah Saints with a remix courtesy of High Contrast, and another drum n’ bass track by U.T.I.

The second disc is very much a mashup, featuring 28 tracks and liberal use of acapellas. The mix starts off with one of my favourite tracks Lights and Music by Cut Copy and is the brilliant Boys Noize remix, followed by another favourite Ready for the Floor by Hot Chip. So the CD starts off relatively relaxed with some beautiful tracks, and builds from there. The pace is immediately lifted by The Bumblebeez Dr Love, and This Boy’s in Love by The Presets. The Aston Shuffle make use of lots of edits and drop mixing, thus allowing more tracks, and excellent (virtual) crossfader use. Of course an Aston Shuffle CD wouldn’t be complete without some of their own work, and this features their brilliant remix of PNAU’s Baby and a remix of 24 Hours by French girl band Terry Poison. This track is a surefire future hit.

Going though the CD, we see tracks by T Rek, LCD Soundsystem, Bass Kleph, Mr Oizo, Daft Punk and others. The mix ends with a beautiful track by Noze Remember Love which is a piano-filled, laidback vocal track, with minimal-esque drum sounds. This CD is incredibly trendy, but despite this, will definitely appeal to the younger, less mature (latte sipping) crowd, due to its brilliance and off-the-wall nature. It comes very close to providing an authentic espresso experience, featuring a broad variety of genres from minimal, to tech, electro house, piano house, disco, chill out, and funk.

Mashed 4 is out now, and is an essential Mix CD for all dance music lovers. You may be pleasantly surprised.