Having established itself as one of the most exciting mix compilations in its weight division, Generationext is back with its latest installment House2Hard vol. 4. This hard-hitting series has struck a warm accord with dance music revelers around Australia, offering a mixture of progressive, electro, house and trance, all masterfully pieced together on the one album. Volume 4 is more of the same and welcomes a new genre to the mix, the current ‘it’ genre of dance music – minimal.

Brisbane boy wonder tyDi takes the reins on disc one and opens the album to some luscious progressive trance with The Time Has Come by Darone. At barely 20 years of age, tyDi has achieved more in his short career than many artists could dream of and stands as unquestionably Australia’s finest trance export. From being signed to World #1 DJ Armin van Buuren’s Armada label, to being ranked #4 in the inthemix50 last year, tyDi is a man musically possessed and on a fast-track to global stardom.

here he sticks close to his trance roots, with a strong preference for that of the uplifting and/or progressive variety. However, his mix on this album has shown a whole new repertoire in his musical abilities, reworking his beloved trance genre to incorporate fresh lashings of minimal and electro. And the results are outstanding.

tyDi dishes up some of the years biggest anthems in and around some of his own pieces of production. By Any Demand from Sander van Doorn, Long Distance from Adam K & Soha and Trix by Steve Angello are the standouts and are wonderfully complimented by tyDi’s own pieces of production; Kopi Susu, Fool and Meet Me in Kyoto. With some devastating minimal, electro and progressive, while still remaining true close to his beloved trance genre, the first half of this album is an absolute jewel. Easily one of the best mixes I’ve heard this year.

Two stalwarts of Australia’s dance music community Dr Willis & Scott Alert come together for disc two; a 16-track mix of upfront tech, electro, progressive and trance. Coming off the back of tyDi’s antics, Willis & Alert certainly had their work cut out for them. The duo open in sterling style with the monster anthem Blink, courtesy of Swedish production extraordinaire John Dahback. The driving electro and tough edged tech continues in the early stanzas of their mix, culminating in deadmau5’s latest pulsating floorfiller The Reward is Cheese.

Getting towards the guts of the mix and the slamming electro and touch tech starts to transform into tech trance with highlight selections such as Rescue by David Forbes. Stepping into the trance domain the mix easily feels more comfortable as Willis & Alert start, track by track, taking this mix to the next level. As they start making their way towards the end of the mix, Willis & Alert step into their own, tantalize the audience with some tasty tech trance. None is better than Riff the monster (and I mean monster), anthem from Dutch heavyweight Sander Van Doorn.

For the better part of a decade Dr Willis has been known as one of Australia’s most prominent trance producers and this second disc gives Willis the opportunity to showcase his latest selections from the production booth, with his latest single Da Slam featuring midway through the mix. In addition he lists two collaborations, the first a monumental hard dance head-thumper with Dark By Design titled God of Abraham, and the second a collaboration with tyDi Saturday Night Fever. All three selections are a stunning representation of Willis’ production talents.

And with that, we are done.

There’s quality all the way throughout this album but it is the ‘kid’ from the northern state whose mix really demands attention. tyDi’s mix is truly of the highest possible ilk. Clearly one of the best mix compilation mixes I’ve heard this year. The boy wonder from brisvegas continues to stamp his authority on the Australian dance music scene. While the stalwarts add some heavyweight clout to this mix compilation it’s the performance of tyDi that makes this mix compilation a must buy for any discerning trance, progressive fans out there. Courtesy of tyDi, Generationext has successfully taken its mix compilation series to the next level.