Ricardo Villalobos / Various

Initially released as an hors d’oeuvre for his acclaimed debut full-length, Chilean-expat DJ/producer Ricardo Villalobos’s stunning mix-disc cements his status as a giant in Germany’s micro tech-house scene. Able to find the melody in minimalism, Villalobos charts a more upbeat course than many of contemporaries on his first contribution to Sven Vath’s Cocoon label. Filled with fresh 12-inches from plenty of previously unheralded producers, Richie Hawtin’s favourite DJ shows off both exquisite taste and spot-on mixing skills. Starting out on the Akufen side of things (Ark’s "Swet Chat Rio”), Ricardo soon ropes in Matthew Dear (who appears in both Jabberjaw and False guises) for some syncopated jump-up before moving on to electro-exotica with Baek’s accordion-ised "Lost Summer” and the Latino-tech tribalism of "Manos Libre” by Brothers’ Vibe. From there the hyper-compressed beats just get darker and more daring before finally exploding into full-on party mode. Though Villalobos only includes one of his own contributions (the previously unreleased "Dexter,” which sounds a little like hip-hop pushed over an event horizon), his percussion-obsessed imprint is all over this album.