Various

The Verstatile Mixtape isn’t your typical mixed-bag label showcase. Listening more like a regular mix that ranges from firm electro and French waltz to imitation disco and back again, DJ Gilb’r does good by sprinkling his label’s cuts with forgotten gems and other treats. Hailing from France, Gilb’r founded the label five years ago, and given his association with the seminal French relax-o label Source (Air, Kings of Convenience) the quality is right on par. Through and through, from I:Cube’s cheeky ’80s elec-techno "FR33z” to his Maurice Fulton remix of "Vacuum Jackers,” the thing is solid like ice in the Arctic. But it doesn’t just deliver chic danceables. Chateau Flight’s "Cosmic Race,” is blissed-out, grounded, beat-full and relaxing. It breaks into the hopeful and wistful piano and strings of "La Ritournelle” by Sebastien Teller, followed shortly by "Il se passé des choses,” by Brigitte Fontaine, a graceful and seductive waltz with a French sex kitten vocal. Gilb’r arranged the tracks for optimum repeated listening with the tape opening upbeat, getting slower and slower, and then picking up the pace again. This comp’s got flow like the stock market. Stellar.