If everyone shouted about their music as loud as Ja Rule, we'd all be deaf. And en-mass deafness would be a disaster, especially considering in the quiet shadows, the most interesting sounds lurk.
Take, for example, the west London/broken beat movement. Not that they've ever called themselves that, or anything else for that matter. They simply get on with playing their unique style to their ever-growing global fanbase.
Hidden behind unfeasibly cool labels like 2000Black or Archive, pioneers like Attica Blues, Domu, IG Culture, 4Hero and co expand ever outwards.
But the problems with such a stylish scene are encapsulated in a release like this.
Alex Attias and his Visions label have been part of the scene for many years and it would be easy to get excited by his label solely on the basis of its tasty profile and its cool affiliates.
In fact a compilation like this is a mixed bag. Pavel Kostiuk's 'Willow The Wisp' for example, is little more than a beat and four-bar melody.
It leaves you cold.
And while Ideme + Co's six-woman choir tune is commendable-for-effort, it still sounds laughable, like Steve Reich meets Earth Wind and Fire. Not in a good way either.
Mustang aka Alex Attias' 'Transitions', however, is a gloriously hazy offworld excursion, the kind of territory you find beyond Ian O'Brien's post-Detroit dreams.
Plutonia (Attias and Pavel Kostiuk)'s 'Sarasowju' is as tasty an example of twisted and off-kilter beats as you could wish for.
Emelda's 'Waenda' is post-afro-beat London-style whereas Vanessa Freeman soars soulwards over a crunchy riddim. Son Of Scientist (IG Culture) leads you down a winding rhythmic path. Plutonia feat. Imani Uzuri is positively anthemic.
This compilation then, like the genre as a whole, demands repeated listening. Sometimes this yields significant gains; others not.
It's the sound of scene relentlessly edging forwards. Just occasionally you wish they'd take huge leaps of faith instead.
