Melodic is a U.K. indie label with a roster of artists that specialize in combining and blurring the genres of shoegaze, IDM, loops, and instrumental hip-hop. Now that it's almost four years old, Melodic has finally released a sampler of its sounds. "A Room Full of Tuneful" is an enjoyable listen that highlights the strength of the label's diversity and features some special guests as well.

The disc begins with and features two tracks by the label's flagship artist Pedro. "Lay Down Mega Man" is a sweet intro number with loopy flutes, soaring synths, and a modest beat. Topo Giglo's "Locked Out" sounds like a continuation on Pedro's intro, taking the mood up a slight notch with restrained organ grinding and some slide guitar. This nice approach to instrumental hip-hop seems to rely more on the artists' own melodic composition as opposed to samples and crate-digging, despite its resemblance to DJ Shadow and the like.

Pedro's other track, "Seven Eight," which displays an equal appreciation for techno and algorhythmic composition, contrasts the fluidity of the hip-hop approach, but manages to retain his breezy, melodic style. Empire State's "Elements of a Wish" brings the bass line to the forefront of the phat beat style, adding spooky strings that are just begging for a Wu-Tang tirade. A break manages to wind its way through the drama and high-hats clatter towards crescendo levels before ending in a shimmering cymbal splash.

This diverse compilation also has some very busy, jazzy numbers like Baikonour's clunky but delightful "Weather Clicker," a few moody digital tapestries like Minotaur Shock's "Baltic Wharf," as well as an excerpt from Chessie's recent Overnight full-length. The only thing this mostly hip-hop-meets-pop record suffers from is an occasional display of sleeve-worn inspiration and some unfortunate editing. It's mastered well, but many of the songs just seem to end too soon. But since this is basically a label taster, i have to say it sufficiently succeeds in wetting the appetite for more Melodic sounds.

www.melodic.co.uk

E:Motion releases yet another deep house compilation, but instead of parading a collection of EFA artists in which to promote, the label leaves the programming in the hands of Toronto's brotherly DJ duo Dino & Terry. Dino & Terry have good taste in vocal house and have compiled, not mixed, some of their favorite house tunes of the moment, a few of which feature their own remix magic.

Dino & Terry's selections are of the soulful, lyrical variety, alive with fresh, organic instrumentation, as opposed to run-of-the-mill, sample-based dance tracks. The drum machines dominate the rhythm of course, but the four-four sounds are stacked with real-time jazzy synth stabs, juicy electric bass, a little bit of guitar, and horns here and there. And both male and female vocals dominate these sophisticated, deep house songs.

Dino & Terry's crates are filled with solid, spiritual grooves by the likes of Kenny Dope, Herbert, The Rurals, and others whose pulse is on the positive vibe of house music. The diva is unleashed on the disc's opening track "Believe" by Nathan Haines and Shelly Nelson. The song's lyrical simplicity and sentimentality gains favor from a phat, filtered bassline and a church organ competing with detroit synth sweeps that affirm's the song's message of conviction.

Herbert and Dani's "Leave Me Now" gets props for it's experimental approach in the disc's liner notes, but suffers from claustrophobia, surrounded smack in the middle of the compilation by big, slick drama on all sides. And sax, lotsa sax. Deep, jazzy vocal house is usually pretty fey and overproduced, and to some extent that sentiment holds true on "Deep:Inside Vol.One," but Dino & Terry, like i said before, have good tatse and a good ear for the right rhythm. Divas are sure to love this mix, and tracky tech-house purists will likely approve of a temporary crossover if the right mood strikes.

www.dinoandterry.com

Oh man, I hardly know where to begin with this release. What do you get when you cross two seasoned U.K. techno pranksters (Cristian Vogel and Jamie Lidell), adult contemporary R&B, digital electro-funk, and a Herbert remix? You get something close to the new Super_Collider disc "Raw Digits" but closer to something else entirely undefinable.

Super_Collider's new disc has reshaped electronic soul music into a tight ball of tension and compression. Contemporary R&B crooning, with a dirty, bone-jam quality to it, emanates from inside a high-end echo chamber, taking a backseat to cold, dry rhythms that are only memorable for their stale aftertaste. Meanwhile, the strained soulful vocalizing suffers from the lack of any equally soulful, organic instrumentation.

These two are on to something that combines a passion for American, urban contemporary and complex, laptop production. "Raw Digits" succeeds somewhat in presenting this collision of style and technique, but unfortunately, I can't help but find that their experiment is at an unlistenable stage of development.

www.no-future.com

Friedman & Liebezeit