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VARIOUS ARTISTS `Big Chemical Beats' (Streetbeat)
VARIOUS ARTISTS `Big Beat Conspiracy' (Pagan / Ark 21)
VARIOUS ARTISTS `White Noise Vol. 2' (City of Angels)
VARIOUS ARTISTS `Amp 2' (Astralwerks)
VARIOUS ARTISTS `Chemical Reaction' (Afrodesia)
DANCE MUSIC EVOLVES so quickly that the sound du jour is often dated by the time its rising stars release albums. As such, the compilation CD has never been more valuable as a method to capture - and market - the moment. And no sound currently commands more attention than big beat.
Heavily influenced by hip-hop and the whole rave scene, but recorded with a hard rock and roll sensibility, it's loud, in-your-face, and often guitar heavy. Partly influenced by and responsible for Prodigy's enormous American popularity, its real masters are the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, who feature prominently on a slew of current compilations.
So omnipotent is the Chemical Brothers influence that it is being...