Twice As Nice the club, and, well, mini empire is very much a UK garage institution now having been the main flagship scene club since 1996.
Their compilations are usually a good bet too, and Twice As Nice are onto their second instalment for Warner. As ever the club's residents are on the mix: DJ Spoony fronting up the garage side, and Steve Sutherland supplying the R&B grooves which has always been Twice As Nice's selling point.
If you're in the mood for some uptempo two step, Spoony keeps it largely vocal, dishing up 20 tracks that range from this summer's big tunes: Sunship's mix of Craig David's '7 Days', Architechs' 'Body Groove' and True Steppers included; to more upfront flavas from Angie Stone, Wideboys, and Troublesome. There's even a Twice As Nice theme tune from Romina Johnson and MC Creed.
Steve Sutherland's R&B mix is a real treat, combining all the recent hits from Kelis, Pink, Sisqo and Lucy Pearl through to old time anthems like Montell Jordan's 'This Is How We Do It', Bell Biv Devoe's 'Poison' and Erik B & Rakim's classic 'I Know You Got Soul'.
In essence it's peak-time anthems galore, but with cuts from DMX, Ol' Dirty Bastard and 112, there's also a tougher edge supplied. All in all, 'Summer Of Love' lays down pure party attitude, and manages to find that elusive balance between underground and mainstream appeal.
by Philippa Reed