top ten albums - no. 5

Dear Sheddists,

those of a certain age will be familiar with the term, 'mix-tape'.  It refers to the recording of favourite tracks onto a cassette tape, usually with the purpose of impressing either less knowledgeable aficionados or the current teenage crush of the recorder.  From such crude early beginnings sprang a vibrant, new phenomena known as the DJ mix.

Pre-eminent among the early exponents were the pairing of Welshman, Alexander Paul Coe (better known as Sasha) and a native of Hastings called John Digweed.  Cutting their teeth at the legendary Renaissance club they became superstars of the emerging electronic dance music movement with the release of the first of three mixes under the Northern Exposure banner. It's a truly magnificent work in which songs flow seamlessly from one to another.

I've always loved electronic music with a passion from the early works of Tangerine Dream to the modern-day sounds of Floating Points and Ulrich Schnauss so the free-flowing Northern Exposure mix was an obvious choice for my top ten albums.