Sounds Like: Alola Records. They're back!

17 years is a long, long time in the business of cutting-edge music but English label Alola Records is celebrating just that. Sounds Like Alola is two separate mixes of the label's back-catalogue - either remastered or completely remixed or edited for 2011 - combined with a few new tracks - all of which will be available at the usual digi-download stores.

Volume 1 is mixed by label boss Omid 16b, a veteran producer of futuristic music who's 1998 album 'Sounds From Another Room' and the more recent 'Like 3 Ears and 1 Eye' showcase his ample skills for genre-bending classiness. This mix is chock full of his own house - tech-house productions comprising mostly his own productions including the stand-out gem 'Re-Arranged' and the pokey 'Who Are You?'

Volume 2 was put together by a true DJ's DJ, Demi, who makes use of the more off-kilter material from Alola's past and comes up with a mix you'd expect to hear if Dimitri From Paris went on a futuristic buzz. It's a cluster of downbeat, afro-jazz and house productions with quirky as the overwhelming theme. With material from rising guns Marco Da Mata & Matthew, veterans Vince Watson and House of 909 and a few sneaky edits by Demi thrown in this has the on repeat thing going on big time.

Key moments: 'It Doesn't Have To End' - lifted from his 1998 album, remixed for the comp on Volume 1, and Vince Watson's 'Mystical Rhythm' on Volume 2.

Alola has long had a fanbase which includes some of the best known taste-makers in underground music and Sounds Like Alola will hit the spot with most open-minded listeners and earn the label plenty of new fans.

5/5 stars! With music this good, the idiots might not win for a change!

Listen/buy Sounds Like Alola at Beatport.com