Various Artists - This is DJ's Choice, compiled by Soulinus & Pun

Celebrating its 20th year, uber-hip German label Unique have brought out yet another quality compilation. Swiss duo Soulinus & Pun have been given the task of putting together the album, and what an album it is. Firmly in the funk and soul camp, the duo have selected 13 tracks, seven of which are previously unreleased for your listening pleasure.

Opening up with Dusty’s Keep It Raw, a laidback instrumental piece, we go overdrive into broken beat territory with Tim Woods remix of The Jazzinvaders’ Up & Out. Funky ass beats and sax are the order of the day and this carries through the whole album, the boys obviously have a penchant for catchy breaks as the rest of the tracks follow suit. On a more hip hop vibe is Tombee’s Super Fly Shit, a heavily sample based track replete with some tasty scratching. Without a doubt, one of the best groups in Unique’s stable is The Sweet Vandals. They feature here with Loosing Me (sic), funky instrumentation and one of the sassiest vocalists I have ever heard make this absolute gold and a real boon for the label.

The ever talented Quantic appears courtesy of a Rob Life remix of We Got Soul, featuring more scratching than you can shake a stick at, it is a nice respite from the frantic soul sounds that precede it. It isn’t all party breaks on here though, there are plenty of down tempo moments. Deeny The Dusty Button’s 4 O’Clock In The Morning is pure opiate in its meandering beats and scatterings of vocals. With the exception of Radio Citizen’s spooky Last Exit, which seemed entirely out of place, the selection on here is top notch.

Relative new comers Soulinus and Pun have captured the Unique sound in one, as a first in hopefully many to come, this is a very promising start for the new series of compilations. Who knows who will be next?

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