Various Artists Cocoon Compilation I

• Words: Shawn Reynaldo
• Label: Cocoon
• XLR8R Rating: 8/10

It's easy to think of an artist like Sven Väth as just another techno veteran who's been around forever, but when it comes picking tunes, the man remains at the top of his game. I is the ninth annual compilation from Väth's Cocoon label (each installment is named after a letter of the alphabet), and it's simply bursting with high-quality, big-room house and techno. The unmixed collection begins with housier selections from eMT and Lauhaus and delves into deep techno with Gaiser's "Am I," but it's the energetic tribal stomp of Tim Green & Emerson Todd's "Excerise" and the hypnotic pulse Radio Slave's "Na Und!" that truly stand out. Lively offerings from Timo Maas and Chymera veer a little too far into cornball rave territory, but the mellower and moody cuts that wrap up the album, particularly Kollektiv Turmstrasse's "Dead Room," nicely reign in the proceedings.