07 10

Prins Thomas Paradise Goulash Eskimo Recordings

16.10.15

Why make one effortlessly cool mix when you could make three? And why release this triple-length album – a sideways tribute to the New York institution Paradise Garage – on a conventional format, when you could bury a USB key in a tin can (which you need a tin opener to get inside)?

It was very tempting to simply list the 57 tracks included on this beautifully curated collection, which veers from mischievous curios and Italo oddities, to strung-out disco-tinged house, to Kurt Vile, with a dozen other styles in between. As you’d expect from a man who releases a mix in a can, there are some truly strange and playful moments – the variety-show space-funk of Mistral’s Starship 109 is a good example.

Cosmic strings sweep in and out, and the music veers between slo-mo washed out lounge and taut, melodic techno. Actress, Hieroglyphic Being, Villalobos and Luke Abbot all make an appearance, and are all given a chance to breathe. But above all this a confident and creative DJ reminding us that when done this well, playing good records one after another (sometimes barely mixed together at all) is an artform that will never, ever get tired. Another three hours would have been more than welcome.