Compulsive Records is the latest imprint of the respected Kickin' Music label. Kickin' has been releasing genre-defying music since 1989 from sources as diverse as BT, Deep Dish, Rennie Pilgrem and Shut Up and Dance. Compulsive was set up last year to dig up the best beats from the underground and have them neatly packaged on one CD. The result was Mood 2 Chill, which, despite it's completely unacceptable title, was well-recieved by listeners and critics alike, featuring downtempo, broken beat and nu jazz tunes in their various incarnations. That record was followed by Ritmo Suave, a Body & Soul-style house comp with a distinctive Latin tinge.

This leads up to Breakscape, the third Compulsive release, which hit the shelves in February this year. Following in the Kickin' tradition of elevated music tastes, Breakscape is a panoramic snapshot of the diverse elements in breakbeat that doesn't succumb to music-press ass-kissing or trendspotting.

Admirably mixed and compiled by Dex Lush and Ben Ward, Breakscape manages to unify soul-stirring harmonies with booty-shaking beats replete with a delicate leftfield sensibility. The disc showcases the many faces of breakbeat, be it West London broken beats, chilled nu jazz, raw ambient breaks or the more popular (these days anyway) nu-skool breaks as produced by their most talented exponents.

The only problem with this comp is that it's impossible to pick out the best tracks: they have all been excellently selected. Fans of the jazz sound will find Bonobo's The Plug and Kinobe's Skyscraper to their liking. Bonobo's quiet harmonies and muted melancholy contrasts nicely with Kinobe's upbeat hi-hats and funky basslines. Other notable nu jazz gems are Bent's Private Road and Mr Scruff's Get A Move On (used in a France Telecom ad recently).

Messrs. Lush and Ward have programmed a disc that ensures the listener will be taken on a journey from jazz-infused breaks to the ambient stylings of Quantic and Casino versus Japan (think The Orb) broken up with a sprinkling of funk courtesy of Black Grass and straight onto dancefloor territory with SOTO's Pigsy and the Plump DJs' mega-electrotechynuskool hit, Scram.

Breakscape is as much a roadmap of today's breakbeat terrain as a window into the soundscapes of tomorrow. This is an ideal introduction to the leftfield for the uninitiated and the jaded alike.

-Joon, June 2002 (ha-ha Joon, June ...)

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