Blueprint

For his first major mix album, Jacques Lu Cont assumes the role of the listener's coolest, most in-touch friend, who's always making great mix tapes chocked full of great obscure tracks and familiar classics, meanwhile bending conceptions of style and genre by placing radically different artists in the same context. As expected, Lu Cont's tastes are impeccable, and he has no trouble choosing excellent tracks that undoubtedly influenced electronica producers (however indirectly), from Chaka Khan's "I Feel for You" to the Pixies' "Monkey Gone to Heaven" to Grace Jones' "La Vie en Rose" to the Beach Boys' "In My Room" to Salsoul Orchestra's "Nice 'n' Nasty" to New Order's "5-8-6." Lu Cont also shows he's got his finger on the button of what's happened more recently, with a deft cover of "Ashes to Ashes" by Atom Heart's Lb, Felix Da Housecat's "My Life Musik" (from his Thee Maddkatt Courtship project), the electro-D.I.Y. group Ladytron's "Playgirl," and a DMX Krew remix of Cylob's "Rewind," which apes the unlikely results of Stephen Hawking jumping on the mic at his favorite club space. As far from the trance-happy mix series Global Underground as could be expected, and leagues better for listeners interested in hearing a great thematic compilation.