Few people exist in dance music like Dave Clarke. Part techno rebel, underground warrior for the masses, part faux-aristocrat, with his love of fast cars, cigars and port.
Few British DJs have made tracks that have galvanised the scene like Red 2, fewer still follow their album up with years of production silence.
Last year saw the outspoken DJ's return with chi-town jackin' 'The Compass' and a nice pair of leather trousers. Yup, it would seem Dave pays scant regard to what anyone thinks of him, his music or his chosen leg garments.
Which brings us to 'World Service,' a mix album of two halves. Both apparently recorded in one live take each - a rarity in the compilations market these days - they span Dave's love of techno on one hand, and electro at the other.
The techno mix outlines the issue that befalls the current techno scene. With formats laid down by Mills, Hood and Maurizio et al firmly in place, producers define themselves more by what they aren't than what they are.
They aren't epic like trance, rhythmical like jazz, vocal like hip hop or warm like house. Which leaves scant room for manoeuvre, but plenty for repetitive club tracks.
There was a time when Clarke on the decks was an exhilarating experience, as techno epics and Chicago jackers got cut to pieces. But recently he's followed a much harder line and this is no exception. After the initial gentle disco phazing of the first few cuts [Technasia and Black Odyssey aka Stacey Pullen], Dave gets down to some seriously banging business [especially Artifact and James Ruskin].
Only when the hard-but-intricate genius of Jeff Mill's 'Robot Replica' comes in are you reminded of what you're missing.
The electro mix, on the other hand sees the 808 underground in more fertile form. While few tracks scream 'I'm-a-total-classic-me' at you, it's clear the kids of Kraftwerk are all off causing havoc.
Sure, like techno, there's a format - 808 drum machine kicks, eerie chords and the odd space-mutterings - but it's one that's being played around with.
So much so that when Dave expertly scratches in Radiohead's stunning 'Idioteque' it sounds perfectly normal. If only such eclectisism existed in four-to-the-floor techno.
