DJ Maüs

Montreal's DJ Maüs gives us the goods, mixing a refreshing selection of drum & bass. Approached the way any strong collection should be  with open ears and a flair for adventure  Intersections gives a strong sense of Maüs as a DJ and music lover. She moves through 15 songs, culled from less obvious artists and labels, with solid, easy flowing mixes, allowing the tracks to tell their tale before rinsing out. Maüs favours edgy, harder pieces in the album's first “intersection,” offering the likes of Suspects' catchy, bass-driven thumper "Central Station," Banaczech's quirky, subtle, dark-step "Zlin and Back," and blending beautifully between the Green Man's fresh, playful, electro-influenced "Reincarnation," and Foul Play's distinctive and deep dance floor mash-up "Field of Action." Using the cinematic, sample-happy works of Myer to step into both “intersections,” Maüs heads into the second half of the mix with the funky, thick beats of his "Brown Sugar." Programming become more frenetic and broken, and suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of Amon Tobin's "Piranha Breaks." Plug's awesome "Me and Mr. Sutton" then ups the ante, with Maüs moving on to weave between the eclectic, jazzy and dark crossroads of the d&b spectrum  no small feat. Further illustrating Maüs' strong sense of flow  even in the context of this one hour set  she rounds it out with Omni Trio's rich, melancholic and moving "Assassins," and the brilliant closing choice of "Do You Believe," a stunningly soulful, chilled vocal piece by London Electricity. Nice going, grrrl.