Short description
The strangest thing about 24 Hours in Paris is that it's a budget-line chillout compilation filled with quality music. In a genre and market where the downtempo scene is flooded with bargain-bin two-disc sets that have stylish packaging yet forgettable artists, this actually works well and is a fairly accurate representation of the Parisian electronic scene circa 2005. Contributions from the retro-bossa act Nouvelle Vague and house guru Dimitri from Paris start things off light, beginning the first disc's survey of the landscape of acid jazz and broken beat before the gang from Versatile shifts things into high gear on disc two. Maurice Fulton's excellent remix of I:Cube's "Vacuum Jackers" is a nice way to ramp things up and get the party started properly, and contributions from La Funk Mob and Chƒteau Flight keep things running smoothly. This is one of those compilations that sadly never gets its due just because of the overabundance of readily available look-alikes, but 24 Hours in Paris is most certainly a worthy purchase and is a wonderful document of what continues to be an important and fruitful movement in the dance world. ~ Rob Theakston