The Onelove franchise has re-emerged with its first instalment for 2009, Sound Machine, a 3-disc house epic mixed by big club tune names Minx, Bart B More and Ajax. Offering a wide selection of the latest house tunes, from happy and cheesy to downright dirty and tribal in between. And before even listening to any of the tracks, the chic silver and gold reflective casing, with the traditional booklet full of sexy young clubbers does well in inspiring the classy party animal in you to come out and play.

Minx starts the first CD starts off with a slow, easy listening funky tune; Kilometer (A-Trak remix) by Sebastian Tellier to get listeners into the mood with bouncy sounds reminiscent of 70’s disco and 80s synth pop. She kept the first CD simple in terms of the mix, with all tracks given their full play time. It then progresses slightly, bringing in some newer sounding house, with heavier bass lines, all the while keeps the general tone of the first CD to a more chilled out, organic sound, with plenty of strings and guitar type riffs for the most part. That being said, the mix is peppered with tracks featuring a tribal feel that are a bit heavier on the bass, continuing to bring the energy up by dropping tunes from established favourites like The Ting Tings and the man/mouse of the hour Deadmau5.

The second disc starts off with a choppy vocal intro track, and drops straight into a banging minimal track with a massive tribal bass drum and chopped up synth lines, giving the solid impression that Bart B More is going to give the second chapter of this compilation to a much harder, club feel. The mix keeps banging unrelenting type beats, occasionally coming up for air with ambient melodies such as Touch Me (Bart B More Acapella remix) before diving straight back in with dirty bass line driven tracks like Dope Fiend (Tommie Sunshine & Udachi remix) by Audio Bullys. The mix maintains a high energy, thumping minimal sounds, with a mix of ambience and frazzled tracks such as Positif by the legendary Mr Oizo to keep the listeners ears interested. Bart B More does well in paying homage to these legendary producers, while also incorporating a lot of his own remixes. This disc definitely held my attention a lot better than the first, with Bart not afraid to mix one minute of a tune in, not sacrificing the natural progression of the mix.

Before putting Ajax’s disc into my player, you can’t help but notices the break in the minimal cover art displayed in the rest of the release, with a contrasting eclectic mish-mash of lines and colours, I knew this last burst of sound was going to be a little something different to rest of the compilation. Ajax shows us why he’s one of the most technically proficient house DJs around today, chopping and dropping tracks left right and centre, and it’s not uncommon to hear samples from two tracks old popping up in the mix. The general feel of the final CD is big room, with plenty of catchy vocals twitchy leads and tribal drum loops. Among this, Ajax shows true class when he drops and oldschool classic, Township Funk by DJ Mujava, which got me out of my seat and pointing in excitement at my CD player. He brings it home in anthemic style with a ripper of a track from the already successful collaboration, Embrace the Martian by Crookers feat. Kid Cudi.

All in all, this compilation delivers a high class dose of house, showcasing all that the genre has to offer today, from chilled out vibes to late night club madness to the technical musicality and diversity. It’s got it all basically!