★★★★☆
When Tiga opens with Kindness’ first-rate “Swingin’ Party,” you’ve every right to think it’s gonna be one of those mixes constantly running around looking for a mirror. Happily it represents the right amount of electro-synth shock and vanity to be mixed with acid-laced firepower and tribal pounds, a bit of crowd-lifting when needed (without finding itself in a slump, Lula Circus’ diva-spotting “Once Upon a Time” is a timely tonic) and a sense of the eclectic being played as an all-in-together collection.
It being Tiga’s party, his are the focal points tying everything together. There’s “Plush,” with its unsubtle vocal harassment and languid electro attitude; “Track City Bitch” in the thick of it having been set up by Adam Marshall’s “Bass Tracking,” and “The Picture” bumping hard and funkily despite being introduced by another art school/Prince wannabe vocal. A classic mix model of build-up into peak time and sifting through a swift turnover of tracks (a fair percentage of which are reduced to easily missable intersections), an expression of playing one lack of subtlety against another triumphs as style and substance grapple. The idea of inclusion stretches to one particularly boxy run of techno putting window panes on full alert thanks to Duke Dumont, Clouds and Blawan, and a closing shot of rave nostalgia. If you can’t get yourself up for this mix, go hail a cab.
File under: Audion, K-Alexi, Auntie Flo