As you'd expect, Felix's latest compilation album is driven by the electroclash aesthetic that he's championed for the last few years.
The album opens gently enough with Ladytron's 'He Took Her to A Movie', plucked from their '604' album. From here Felix huffs and puffs his way into Jacques Lu Cont's superbly controlled reworking of We In Music's 'Now That Love Has Gone'.
Naturally City Rockers make their presence felt through Daniel Diamond's 'Champu', but it's Tok Tok Vs Soffy O's 'Missy Queen's Going To Die' that opens up the Eighties synth channels and gets the party started, kicking into City Rockers' second offering, Northern Line's Human League inspired 'Treat Me Better' and Felix's own re-mix of Dot Allison's 'Substance'.
France's purveyors of fine techno, The Youngsters, are represented through their re-mix of Bolz Bolz's 'Take A Walk', while Felix's now classic 'Silver Screen Shower Scene' get aired in it's Phunk version.
Mid way though the set Felix intensifies the beats, driving in the slamming, tech-tinged house of Kiki's 'Gas 126', before opting for the more straightforward four to the floor of User 010's 'Dirty Breaks Federation' and the acidic thump of Tim Taylor Vs Thor 54's 'Over The Hill'.
All of which provides a bridge into the wheel in need of oiling that is Jeff Mills' 'Ticket To Thrillville', before reverting back to Miss Kitten and The Hacker's 'Flexibility' and the mutant Derrick Carter rap of 'Thee Underground Made Me Do It' by Felix's Aphrohead alter ego.
The first break and last break in this unrelenting beat journey comes with the bass end electro funk of Felix's Royksopp collaboration 'What Does It Feel Like'.
Jacques Lu Cont's second offering comes via his Zoot Woman band's 'It's Automatic', albeit in it's bass heavy 'Paper Faces' house re-working, while Ladytron enter the closing stages of the excursion with Felix's re-working of 'Playgirl' and Archigram's suitably breezy 'In Flight' spirals the album out on an endless funk house loop.
As a representation of where Felix is at for the moment and an insight into the music that has made him stand out from the crowd as a producer, 'Excursions' makes its point well.
But what gives this edge is the deliberately rough production. There's little in the way of cleaned and touched-up mixes here. Rather we get the full-on party deal and its sounds glorious for it.
