No peace for the wicked eh Ross? Not only has Mr Allen just launched his Destination Out nights at London's Cargo, alongside his weekly Destination In duties on Radio London Live and day job as head of the Island Blue label, but he's also compiling albums at the rate of knots.
This is the second Ross Allen selection to grace the shops in the past few months and just to really confuse us it has almost the same title as the last one, 'Absract Funk Theory Presents Ross Allen'. Glad we got that cleared up.
Like the last selection, this is a truly all-over-the-place bag of strictly quality stuff - you couldn't even argue that it's jazz joining these dots. So, instead, we career around from the avant-ambience of Boards Of Canada to the rootsy hip hop of Common, from Herbert's funky experimentation with Serge Gainsbourg's 'Bonnie & Clyde' to the Black Science Orchestra's unique take on 2 Step.
Kicking off with Boards Of Canada's latest offering, easing into obscure Chicago soul act The Lost Generation and a bit of Zero 7's beautiful remix of Lambchop's 'Up With People', Mark Pitchard and Air, things get off to a gentle and blissed out start.
A bit of a treat comes in the form of a Herbert remix of Serge Gainsbourg's 'Bonnie & Clyde' which finds the errant genius on typically astonishing form. A particularly nice touch is the way in which snatches of the beautifully pronounced French spoken word are clipped, repeated and layered into the percussion.
It's all rounded off beautifully with the Black Science Orchestra's 'Head Space Lullaby', proof, if it were needed, that 2 Step is versatile enough to provide the structure for more than just amphetamine R&B or ruff minimalism.
With themes as tenuous as snow boarding now providing the excuse for yet more 'chill out' compilation albums - all of which feature f**king Groove Armada - this should be greeted with outstretched arms by those who'd like to see an end to the association between 'chilled' and 'bland'.
