:: Various Artists - Late Night Tales (compiled By Groove Armada)

Various Artists

Not many compilation series make it to the magic 20th release. Fewer still can hope to keep churning out consistently quality comps after that time but Late Night Tales have managed to do just that. Over five years, the Azuli-released series has allowed some of electronica’s brightest stars to compile their own mix for late night listening. Rae & Christian, Howie B, Kid Loco, Nighmares On Wax, Jamiroquai, Four Tet, Air, Fatboy Slim, The Flaming Lips and many others have all featured and now, to celebrate the 20th in the series, Groove Armada get a second stab following their critically-acclaimed Another Late Night effort of a few years back. This is an eclectic playlist mixing obscure, left-of-centre guilty favourites with more cutting edge electronic fare; Groove Armada have come up with a corker here, plain and simple. Where else will you find Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’ sit alongside Roxy Music’s ‘Love Is The Drug’ and Liquid People’s Balaeric anthem ‘Son Of Dragon’? Nowhere people, and this is what makes this 20th Late Night Tales release so good. Many of these tracks have been re-edited and re-sequenced and the ease with which the eighteen tracks flow is the result. Classic artists including Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and The Cure sit alongside more current offerings by Max Berlin, Peter Bjorn and John and Midlake, whose haunting track ‘Roscoe’ – here remixed by Wixard Sleeve – is a contender for track of the album. Elsewhere, Andy Cato’s Edit of Will Young’s ‘Friday’s Child’ evokes memories of classic Groove Armada tracks such as ‘At The River’.

The duo chip in their very own exclusive in the form of an acoustic version of ‘Are Friends Electric’ while Will Self’s supposedly dry tones chip in at the end (as per all LNT releases) with his ‘bedtime story’ named ‘The Happy Detective’ which, strangely, wasn’t included in the promo. I’m sure it would have been good though. In any event, it doesn’t matter. Once you’ve finished with Groove Armada’s Late Night Tales, you’ll more than likely be going straight back to track 1 again. Groove Armada’s Late Night Tales is a class offering and one which will please traditional fans of GA as well as likely attract a whole new legion; get on it.