Bomb the Bass

The Berlin-based, universally appealing !K7 label had one heck of a year in 2008, putting out a raft of albums that teased the margins of electronic music across tech-house, downbeat narco-soul and even big-band jazz. Featuring deep, brain- and body-engaging material from the likes of Cobblestone Jazz, Swayzak, Bomb the Bass, Quiet Village, Henrik Schwarz, the Herbaliser, the Matthew Herbert Big Band and Carl Craig (in his rare remix of Beanfield's "Tides") this comes across less like a label sampler than a mixtape from a friend.