A collection of unsigned electronic acts that by all rights should come off as a bit of a hit and miss affair, but somehow sounds surprisingly cohesive. Opus Collective are a loose corroboration of musicians who pool their resources and talents to help each other get tracks up to a releasable standard and then do exactly that, via these compilation CD's.

The first of the series featured the budding talents of Josh Abrahams, so that gives you some idea of the possibilities on offer here, and anyone who prides themselves on spotting 'next big things' should grab themselves a copy of this right away. One of the more interesting aspects of the tracks on offer here is the abundance of vocal work going on. In a genre that is increasingly shying away from using the voice as an instrument, many of the artists here - notably Tectonic
(who's track 'Earthwoman' is a killer), Xaeja (Bernard Sumner in disguise?) and Sandra Bogerd - actually use the voice as the central component of their work and seem to build outwards from there, employing subtle vocal and production techniques. And here I was thinking that that was an art quickly being lost in the mists of time.

As with all compilations (and albums) there are standout tracks - Sandra Bogerd's fun, Bjork-esque 'Hiding', First World's 'Dance On The Tables', Chiron's hypnotic, dubby 'Burn', and Brenden James' 'No Time Like Now' - but one of the strengths of this disc is its consistency. Everything on here is up to speed, and listeners I'm sure will have preferred tracks of their own that are completely different to the ones I have listed.

It should be noted that those with an ear for hard, underground, industrial dance would be best advised to steer away from this, as most of the material here is far more pleasant on the ears than that. Hardly the fodder of TTFM, but hardly hard either. If commercial wasn't a dirty word I'd use, but it is, so I won't. In all this one is a winner. Solid proof that the local dance is in a very healthy state.

JUSTIN MURRAY

Beat Magazine, January 2000