The history and evolution of London Elektricity is best viewed in concert with that of Hospital Records. The imprint began as an outlet for London Elektricity’s leftfield, jazzy and live orientated drum & bass recordings which in the beginning were receiving more play from DJs like Gilles Peterson than the big players in the drum & bass scene. From about 2000 onwards though, the label became a bastion of the so-called liquid funk sound and recruited some of the brightest new talent in the genre. Hospital has become one of the biggest in the drum & bass scene and their sound has evolved into epic big room anthems, far removed from their low-key origins.

Sven Väth will once again go deep into the mix this fall with The Sound of the 9th Season.

The man behind Cocoon will celebrate yet another successful Ibiza season with some of the tunes that made his Amnesia party a success. Among the artists included are the usual suspects (Sasha, Timo Maas, Dubfire, Väth himself) and some small surprises (Pigon, Prins Thomas, Kollektiv Turmstrasse). And, of course, there’s Johnny D’s “Orbitalife.” Don’t hold Uncle Sven’s good taste against him, though. Instead, sit back and relive the music in the privacy of your own home.

Cocoon will release The Sound of the 9th Season on November 14, 2008

Saint Etienne’s music is perfect pop music that can make you dance, smile and perhaps even sing along. Now the band is celebrating their long history by releasing London Conversations, a greatest hits compilation (out on Monday 13^th October) which tracks their career from their breakout hit Only Love Can Break Your Heart in 1990 right up to their present day output.

Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, aka Saint Etienne, have collected together the best tracks of their 18-year career for this double-CD collection, but don’t think that it’s all stuck in the past. Indeed, all these tracks - which are united by their theme of being about London, as well as being classics - will have a head-nodding effect on most people, what with their widespread popularity and use on various soundtracks etc.

Plus, there’s some original material here too. Saint Etienne’s brand new single Burnt Out Car for example; a perfect contemporary showcase for the qualities that made this one of the few bands who could both soundtrack the second Summer Of Love’s Balearic tangent and crack the US singles charts (with Nothing Can Stop Us and Only Love… back in the 90s).

Saint Etienne’s sound has embraced a lot of different styles, as befits some of the greatest exponents of the poppier side of indie-dance. On London Conversations you’ll find the delicacy of Hobart Paving, the poppy electronics of Heartfailed (In The Back Of a Taxi) and of course the wry urban tale of Side Streets, a circa 2005 reminder that popular music doesn’t have to be a saccharine mess to cheer you right up.

Taking a break from works under his own name, Billy Dalessandro returns to the playful tongue-and-cheek concept of the Huge Hephner alias on his first full-length for Chicago-based Siteholder Records. Musically, Nymphotech continues in the same vein as his Siteholder UnCut EP, The Booty Drop, in that it doesn’t stray far from what Dalessandro does best: clean, tight productions for the dance floor. Its nine tracks meld the general structures and aesthetics of Chicago house with the rhythmic elements and sounds of modern techno.

Dalessandro begins the album teasing us halfway through the first track with a single saxophone sample—a sexy moment you’d expect in a track titled “Foreplay” that features grooving conga-laden tech-house. “My Money Your Body,” meanwhile, is a swinging house number with funky synths that modulate throughout the entire track against intricate rhythmic patterns.

“Coffeeshop Chronicles” showcases a heavy Chicago house influence via a punchy acid bass line that pumps throughout the track. “Black Potion”’s powerful kick leads into a chugging groove that is juxtaposed against a simple synth lead. Hephner makes use of some well-timed spacey warm pads that add an element of interest to an otherwise straightforward techno track. But “JacknCoke” splits the difference, making for an interesting hybrid of house and techno with a disco bass line and piano riffs.

“Lotus Bomb,” on the other hand, is a much deeper track with pitched down vocals and subdued Detroit-styled stabs laced over a jazzy bass line. In contrast, Dalessandro then hits hard with “$ean Da Don” and introduces us to a naughty new character from his fertile imagination. This playful track, with its freaky vocal samples, is a booty-shaker reminiscent of the Detroit Grand Pubahs. Thanks to Dalessandro’s less-is-more production value, however, he delivers something that’s humorous without being over the top or ridiculous.

“Quickie Bounce” is a little plodding when compared with the rest of the album, and is probably one of the less danceable tracks due to its lazy snares and oddly off-beat wood block hits. The title track, “Nymphotech,” is lean but definitely danceable and is the most techno-oriented music on the album.

Truthfully, Nymphotech is more of an extended EP than a fully realized artist album. The fact that this album was also released as two pieces of vinyl, with digital bonus tracks, simply proves the point. But each tune is just unique enough to keep things interesting, especially given Dalessandro’s obvious talent for blending analog and digital techniques. An impressive effort.

Optimo return this month with yet another mix, this time on Domino Records.

Entitled Sleepwalk, JD Twitch and JG Wilkes will once again be testing the outer limits of the DJ mix by taking in people as varied as Nurse With Wound, Lee Hazlewood, Duke Ellington and forgotten folkie Karen Dalton. In fact, the closest thing to actual “dance music” is a track from Arthur Russell and ambient music from Cluster and Eno, Moebius and Roedelius. Then again, that’s exactly the sort of thing that Optimo has been doing each Sunday at their celebrated Sub Club night.

Domino will release Optimo’s Sleepwalking on October 27, 2008.