Luc Raymond/Various

Montreal DJ Luc Raymond gets hard and funky on this CD of beat-driven house. The mix is supposed to be a representation of Montreal's annual celebration of the spring equinox, the White Party. However, the tracks are almost exclusively funky and tribal house, and for the most part, vocals take a backseat to thumping drums and looped bass lines. The tracks come from many of house's best-known and finest producers, including Romanthony, Cevin Fisher and Derrick Carter. While some of the standout tracks include Romanthony's delightfully dirty "Never Fuck," DJ Q's flute-sampling "2bad Acid" and Tedd Patterson's "Magnifique." Raymond also includes two of his own numbers here. Although the disc is fun and funky throughout, coming to an energetic finish, it still needs that one climactic track to blow the roof off. Overall it's a very good house mix that will appeal to those that like their house deep and funky.