Tribal Rites

When Eskimo Recordings approached Bill Brewster with the idea of putting together a compilation exploring his epic record collection, the acclaimed journalist and DJ decided to take a widescreen approach. The resultant collection is vast and predictably on-point, with each of the CDs gathering together tracks on a loose theme ("Post-Punk", "Balearic" and "House"). As you'd expect, it's a hugely impressive and eye-opening set, with Brewster serving up largely obscure or long-forgotten cuts that range in scope from trippy, dubbed-out post-punk disco, jaunty jazz-funk, synth-heavy boogie and heavily percussive Afro-disco grooves, to saucer-eyed European synth-pop, the dub techno of Maurizio, Swag's early UK tech-house and the East Midlands deep house bump of Charles Webster's "A Love From San Francisco" project. In other words, it's a cracker from start to finish.