The Ground Floor

Every once in a while an Irish dance compilation appears. Sometimes, it's nothing more than a corporate giant flexing muscles or, in the case of the D1 and Bassbin collections, a taster for greater things to come.

Happily, the debut release from fledgling Dublin label Front End Synthetics falls into the latter category. Featuring a line-up of producers affiliated to the Ultramack and Bassbin rosters, The Ground Floor focuses on the more offbeat, quirky and decidedly underground end of the dance music spectrum. Lovingly crafted and professionally produced, it nonetheless manages to cover a broad range of styles.

There's an incredible variety here: warbling melodies from Trev's Automatic Weapon; tongue in cheek robotic repetition from The Soul Gun Warriors; moody, minimal beatz, courtesy of DroidnSlug, The Alpha Incident and New Dark Age; neo-classical tinged breaks from Anodyne; retro electro grooves from Street Thunder and the deep, sensuous house of John Braine.

The Ground Floor is an inspired snapshot of Dublin's electronic scene. Welcome to the future of Irish music.