Brixton's pride, mishmash dance/house/electronica duo Basement Jaxx have prolifically delivered killer tracks ever since "Samba Magic" was first cut to vinyl. Now, some years on, it's time for a comprehensive recap of the Jaxx' mindblowing A-sides. All fifteen singles are here, scrambled by the Jaxx into the optimum track order (who really cares about chronology?), and there isn't a dud among them. Selecting highlights is a futile task-just stick the disc on and let your senses be guided from the hypnotic "Red Alert" through the awesome "Where's Your Head At" and beyond "Do Your Thing"'s reinvention of dancehall swing. It's quite a trip. The second disc on this limited edition of The Singles compiles some notable rarities as well as reworkings of the A's on disc one. "Magnificent Romeo" serves up a finely danceable disco rendition of Rooty's opener-it's all in the bassline. Elsewhere, the Latin and acoustic edits of "Rendez-vu" and "Broken Dreams" are particularly tasty, while "The Isley Bootleg" cut of "Jus 1 Kiss" adds a touch of Daft Punk to that classic track. The second disc is a fine companion to the first and, its own way, just as dynamic. For those who have followed Basement Jaxx from Remedy through Rooty to Kish Kash, there's no doubt that the duo are consistent-weak album tracks are almost non-existent. [+]

Psyence Fiction is the epic brainchild of Mo' Wax boss James Lavelle and hip-hop auteur DJ Shadow. Seldom before had a project of such scope and such lofty ambition been attempted. But over three years of gestation, Psyence Fiction became hip-hop mythology, complete with a cast of international players; Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Richard Ashcroft of The Verve and Mike D of the Beastie Boys all offer vocal contributions. Psyence Fiction was blighted by its vast hype but still sounds like a box- office blockbuster of an album. Shadow's deft orchestral mixing provides a wide-screen backdrop for Yorke's mournful delivery on "Rabbit In Your Headlights" but he proves equally capable of providing scene-stealing instrumentals with the likes of "Unreal" and "Celestial Annihilation". Indeed, sometimes the collaborations seem slightly mismatched; Ashcroft's take on "Lonely Soul" and Mike D's uncharacteristically poor rapping on "The Knock" prove low points on an otherwise fine album. -Louis Pattison.

Moby is an ambitious man, both musically and philosophically, and that quality seeps into every aspect of Everything Is Wrong, from the wunderkind DJing that stretches the genre limits of techno to the angry, antiestablishment manifesto on the CD sleeve. The record's opening salvo of dancey club music sets the listener up for "All That I Need Is to Be Loved", which, out of nowhere, bludgeons would-be club kids with tuneless, mad vocals and punked-out guitar solos. The same bait-and-switch formula repeats twice on the CD at almost regular intervals in the industrial shriek of "What Love" and the sudden, slow, and acoustic bent and folksy vocals of "Into the Blue". All three shifts are jarringly abrupt. However, dance-floor continuity is in Moby's blood, and he uses these songs as parts one, two, and three of the underlying rage that drives the record's concept. Without these three tracks, in fact, you'd have a moody yet convincingly cohesive danceathon, bouncing between house breakbeats ("Feeling So Real", "Bring Back My Happiness") and blissed-out trance ("God Moving Over the Face of the Waters"). Instead, Moby expresses his bewildered and desperate view of modern life by periodically yanking away the escape of blind, danceable ecstasy, using that discontinuity to express the eyes-wide-open ruminations of a furious idealist. -Matthew Cooke.

De Phazz are a Heidelberg-based combination of composers, arrangers, musicians and vocalists who play their own mixture of easy listening, cool jazz, Brazilian exotica-and even a splash of dancehall reggae when they feel like it. Death By Chocolate is actually a little less playful than their last album Godsdog. The humorous samples are still there but remain more in the background, while the foreground is taken up by quirky but lovable music and witty lyricism. The anchors of the project are producer Pit Baumgerter, songwriter Pat Appleton and composer Otto Engelhard, though the featured artists run to about 20 personnel and cover a wide variety of bizarre names and great instruments. There's a love of irony and irresistible, feel-good music throughout this album that keeps it buoyant and captivating throughout. And the range of sounds and moods is quite dazzling: gleeful, insouciant humour on "Something Special ("You' re So Special-Just Like Anybody Else" sings Appleton), subtle reggae licks on Nu Chic and Sabbatical, upbeat club thumps on "Better Now", downtempo jazz of the title track and overt bossa rhythms and French lyrics of Jeunesse Doreé. A little like being at a retro cocktail party, sipping on outrageously decorated drinks and indulging in flirtatious lounge chat, Death By Chocolate is certainly a good way to go. -Paul Sullivan.

Fatboy Slim digs deep in the vaults, finds an obscure surf-guitar classic, and with a wave of his big beat wand, "Sliced Tomatoes" by the Just Brothers undergoes a phoenix-like rebirth, emerging as the all-conquering "Rockafeller Skank". Meanwhile, Apollo Four Forty nip down the local Oxfam, and pick out Status Quo's "Caroline". It's the main sample on their Top Ten smash "Don't Stop The Rock". Will this do? Actually, yes. Big beat has a way with making the cheesiest of rock moves seem like God-given dancefloor charm, and much of Gettin' High is a pretty competent, self proclaimed festival of the dumb. No, "Crazee Horse"'s refrain of "I got no remorse / Like a crazee horse" doesn't quite have the same idiot savant ring as "check it out now/ the funk soul brother", but "Lost In Space" has no doubt filled more dancefloors than the rest of the Skint roster put together, which makes Gettin' High pretty hard to knock. -Louis Pattison.

Working with Blur on their Think Tank album clearly made an impact on Norman Cook. Palookaville, his fourth outing as cartoon dance hero Fatboy Slim, has a distinctly beatnik theme running through it. It also relies more on real instruments and proper songs, rather than Cook's laptop and fun floor fillers, swapping instant thrills for something longer lasting. That said it's unmistakably a Fatboy Slim record, and a pretty phenomenal one at that. The trademark beach party anthems are still there. The Latino shake of "Wonderful Night", "El Bebe Masoquista"'s electro-funk and single "Slash Dot Dash" with its snarling surf guitar all prove that there's life in Bigbeat yet. But it's the mellower tracks that stand-up to constant rewinds. "North West Three", a dreamy twilight tune dedicated to wife Zoe Ball, is a gorgeously romantic swayer and plinky hobo ditty "Put It Back Together" delivers a ramshackle shot of optimism in the Think Tank style, complete with a drowsy Damon Albarn. Meanwhile, "Long Way From Home"-the moody sub-bass rumble from the O2 ad-and road movie rocker "Push and Shove" find the middle ground and demonstrate that Cook's imagination is as active as ever. All the usual cut'n'paste musical bric-a-brac's there. [+]