Nick Warren is somehow both an obvious and unexpected choice to helm the 18th Balance compilation. His mastery of the mix-CD format is well-documented, having long been one of Global Underground’s go-to guys. In that sense, he’s a known quantity. Is that’s what we expect from Balance, though?

In the last few years, the series has set out to surprise, largely by giving its DJs free rein. In 2009, Joris Voorn went all-out on Ableton and Traktor to create something far more special than his current loop-layering obsession. On Balance 015, Will Saul strayed further from the series’ prog roots with an exhaustive three-disc set that spanned disco to dubstep. Then there was Agoria’s patience-rewarding techno artistry on volume 16.

Last year’s Balance 017 from Timo Maas was well-reviewed by inthemix, but it’s not one that ignited much lasting enthusiasm. While Maas was evidently keen to keep his sound ‘of the moment’, and hence more likely to stay trapped in 2010, that’s not how Nick Warren does things. He’s still a committed journeyman, avoiding the ‘tracky’ tech-house direction some of his contemporaries have gone in.

While any fan will know the DJ’s mixing can be touch-and-go in a club, on CD he’s able to nail those fluid mixes that turn a list of tracks into a cohesive whole. Part of this success can be put down to Warren’s adoption of Ableton, which allows him “to do edits and multiple mixes on the fly”. In contrast to the overstuffed track-lists on some recent entries, Balance 018 needs only 11 careful selections per disc.

CD One sounds like the set Warren would play to take a dancefloor to simmering point. He’s never been one to prickle at the “prog” tag, and he wears it with surety over the steady build of the opening disc. We know just where we stand with St Petersburg-based producer Ormatie’s languid opener Only, its delicate four-four pulse easing into the melancholic Morning Paper from another of Russia’s rising stars Spieltape [listen below].

Given his take on Balance as “the coolest end of the compilation market”, Warren populates disc one with producers whose names haven’t been well-worn on GU cover-sleeves. His inclination towards ‘deepness’ here isn’t the deepness associated with the latest trendy house, but rather his way of getting the hooks in.

The Tribe Has Spoken from Antix’s flipside Fiord steps up the tempo, swelling to an ecstatic peak that makes you fear Warren has accelerated a touch too early. We’re soon back on an even keel thanks to a techy number from one of Rotterdam’s new four-four specialists Paul Hazendonk, a track equally matched in build by its neighbour Monkey Movin’.

Fans of Steve Bug’s deep house stable Dessous will recognise the warm, pad-heavy template of Without Sound, an inspired lead-in to Warren’s own 2011 release Buenos Aires [listen below], which shares some of its qualities. The mix cools off as it reaches its conclusion, re-setting the energy for CD Two to lead the charge deeper into the night.

Warren’s own nine-minute take on Tripswitch’s Collider immediately announces the second disc as the punchier chapter of Balance 018. An insistent bassline leaves no option but to be swept along. Industrious Argentinean Julio Largente tightens the grip with his Darkened Underpass; conjuring that dancefloor moment when the lights go down and heads start to swim [listen below].

Warren keeps us on a propulsive trajectory through melodic techno, dispensing heady weapons like Lank’s Ain’t No Problem and the steam-rolling Aragorn from German dependable Solee. At the tail-end, Solee surfaces again to put a measured spin on Warren’s Flowers, before Pablo Acenso brings it home with his perfectly-pitched Bread.

In the words of its creator, Balance 018 is “a journey thing”. It isn’t designed to confound your expectations or change how you feel about Nick Warren. Both discs showcase a DJ who’s comfortable with his reputation and trusts his selections. As Balance has rightly realised, that’s something worth celebrating.

Balance 018: Nick Warren is out 15 April through Balance Music, distributed by EMI.