As Get Physical leaders M.A.N.D.Y. told us recently, the label’s Body Language series is all about “presenting various styles, whether traditional or fresh”. That commitment to variety has resulted in some fine mixes, while also attracting criticism for flitting between the buzz sounds of the moment. Dixon’s Body Language 4 came at the crest of the so-called ‘deep house’ revival, while Modeselektor’s volume in 2009 encapsulated the riotous blurring of dubstep and techno they’d made a patented brand. Each new name on the sleeve has certainly made good business sense, but that’s no bad thing.

On Body Language Volume 9, it’s over to the elder statesman of acid house DJ Hell to forge his own direction. While Hell may seem like a safe choice for a series that has played tastemaker with the likes of Château Flight and Junior Boys, his mix isn’t a straight-down-the-line rave-up. Just as Dixon’s effort has endured for its warm ‘back to mine’ feel, Hell’s selections find him thinking outside the club context. After all, the internet is not short of sets ripped from DJ booths every weekend.

Christian Prommer’s Sueno Latino opens proceedings in swirling, seductive fashion, before we venture into the muscular territory expected of DJ Hell. Carl Craig’s 2001 re-rub of Kirk Degiorgio’s Nairobi is blissfully Detroit, but at track three you’re wondering if the mix has crescendoed too soon. We level into housier territory with another prime picking from the early 2000s, Josh One’s Contemplation, which bumps consummately into a more recent groover from Simple Records, Where Is It?.

By now, it’s clear our man is enjoying his dart around the decade, and the digging is only going to get deeper. After a glorious heads-down stretch, Hell throws his first curveball with The Balanescu Quartet’s orchestral cover of Kraftwerk’s The Robots. It’s this sense of fun – tech-house into a string quartet – that gives the mix its distinctive character. The blissed-out mood is extended by David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto’s slowburn Forbidden Colours from 1983; a beautifully self-contained serenade. Put back-to-back with Depeche Mode’s glacial and fleeting Esque, it’s like a window into Hell’s home listening.

The combined powers of Die Vögel and Dixon coax us gently back to the dancefloor, and there we (mostly) stay. The deep shuffle of Kirk Degiorgo’s Silently remix gradually morphs into a late-night monster you’d love to hear pulsing out a speaker stack, but the tired sleaze of DJ Linus’s The Incident is the mix’s first bum note. We’re never in one place too long, though, as Daniel Wang’s piano-led disco jam Warped arrives to remind us.

At the tail-end of the mix, the tracks are clipped before the two-minute mark, easing into ambience before David Bowie and Pat Metheny Group tie things off with the ‘80s croon of This Is Not America. It’s a tongue-in-cheek final flourish, summing up all the glorious contradictions of DJ Hell. The man might be on the “traditional” end of Get Physical’s scale, but Body Language Volume 9 is anything but a traditional mix.

Body Language Volume 9: DJ Hell is out Friday 9 July on Get Physical through Inertia.