Akufen / Various

Now don’t get too excited. This isn’t Montreal tech-house wizard Akufen’s follow-up album to his acclaimed and admired 2002 debut, My Way, but a lavishly packaged DJ mix set for London, England’s apparently wealthy Fabric club. Ex-butcher Akufen’s signature cut-up techniques are still razor-sharp, however, as the 73-minute mix moves through all realms of techno and house with a fluidity that proves Marc Leclair is as tasteful and precise on the decks as he is on the sampler. Opening with a remix of Matthew Dear’s stomping "Dog Days” is an obvious choice for a dependable party-starter that is nevertheless appreciable, but throwing in Senor Coconut’s re-grooving of "Smoke on the Water” doesn’t really work when it’s being sandwiched in between two sleek and groovy tech-house sides. Basically, if DJ mixes and Akufen are your thing, you can’t go wrong with the 17th Fabric release, but anyone more interested in experiencing choppy techno in an album setting should wait for Akufen’s wildly anticipated sophomore offering.