Various Artists Fabric 17: Akufen

• Words: Vivian Host
• Label: Fabric
• XLR8R Rating: /10

Those looking for an intro to microhouse could do worse than this studio mix from the Edward Scissorhands of Montreal, Akufen. He kicks off this very clicky and restrained party with some of the genre's biggest hits of the last year: Philippe Cam's quirky, skipping "LFO Drive" and Pantytec's gurgling remix of Matthew Dear's "Dog Days." The best numbers add a little personality to all the clicks and cuts, with Crackhaus giving an unexpected big band swing to the rather lush "Ample Slacks" and Senor Coconut's turning "Smoke On the Water" into a driving techbossa mover and shaker. This is house broken into a thousand tiny bits and the shards superglued back together, and it's not for the technophobe.