Something I’ve been aware of for a long time but haven’t written about directly is the specific culture of the left-field electronic compilation. Not the commercial dance compilation, the kind that assembles chart hits from a given year, but the curated statement: a compilation made by people with strong taste and a clear sense of what they believe electronic music can do.
Touched Music is a label that has been doing this for years. Their releases bring together artists from across the spectrum of serious electronic music, not restricted to a single genre or scene but unified by a sensibility, a set of values about what matters in music. Their compilations are the kind that reward repeated listening and reveal new connections each time.
The Full Spectrum compilation, which is coming out this month and which includes my track Refreshingly Old, has an artist list that makes the point better than I could. 808 State. Future Sound of London. These are names that have been central to leftfield electronic music for over thirty years. Being on the same release as artists of that significance is not something I take for granted.
I want to say that directly rather than being coy about it. 808 State and Future Sound of London are artists whose work has been part of the soundtrack of my musical life since I first heard it. There is something genuinely moving about finding yourself on the same compilation.
More on Refreshingly Old when it’s officially out next month.
