Gatecrasher - Disco-Tech

In 1999, with trance sweeping the Western world like some gurn-inducing plague, Gatecrasher has been called "the most influential club in the world", and there's little denying that Sheffield-based super-club pieces together definitive double-CD mix compilations like they're the genuine article. By now, though, part of the charm is the way Gatecrasher's collections deviate from the beaten track: Disco-Tech thunders into life with the apocalyptic dub strains of Leftfield's "Afrika Shox", shocking the cheesy euro-dance disciples out of their reverie at the first high-octane hurdle. That's not to say that the trance massive are going to be put off by Disco-Tech, though, as brutal techno segues into the edgy tech-trance of Satoshi Tomiie's "Up In Flames", and into a concerted spell of boundary-warping, line-crossing, but eternally populist dance-floor recreation. There's still the likes of System F's "Out Of The Blue" to endear this to the Top 40 brigade, but Disco-Tech proves that Gatecrasher's still a worthy, innovative market leader. --Louis Pattison