Various

Brooklyn, New York’s Statra label debuted in 1999 with the Harry The Bastard Presents Club H compilation, a lovingly packaged combination of previously released, but hard-to-find house and tech house material that spoke volumes. Paradigm Shift, the imprint’s very first original artist release, features 12 cuts of quality electronic music, two tracks each from the six artists who will release full-length albums on Statra over the next year: Lypid, Susumu Yokota, Denver McCarthy, Supersoul, Laurent Brondel and Jeff Sharel. Giving the compilation its title and kicking things off is Lypid’s uptempo “Paradigm Shift” and its downtempo counterpart, “Uptown,” shows this artist’s ability to handle both styles with ease. Out the same day as this comp. is the Stratospheric EP from Lypid, which features a bonus cut and remixes of the title track from Henrik B (a techno reinterpretation) and Jonah Sharp’s Spacetime Continuum. Susumu Yokota, with many respected electronic music releases on a wide variety of labels in the ’90s, contributes the atmospheric “Kodomotachi” and “Genshi,” a mimimal yet warm techno piece. In the same vibe is Denver McCarthy’s “First Reflections,” whereas his “Rainbow City” is invigorating electro. Supersoul brings on the alien funk, Jeff Sharel dabbles in exotic forward-house and juicy jazz textures, and Laurent Brondel represents with the uber-chic of “Turtleneck,” juxtaposing this with his “Happiness,” a snappy electro thumper with orchestral flourishes and a nod to the city of Detroit. These future-focused songs are engaging, innovative and shot through with the passion of musicians who live a heartfelt compulsion to express themselves.