Miss Kittin - 'A Bugged Out Mix' (Resist) Released 17/04/06

With some well-received albums already to her name, French born Miss Kittin (aka Caroline Herv) unleashes this Bugged Out! mix. Split into a ‘Perfect Night’ and ‘Perfect Day’ disc, the mixes duly shows both sides of her façade – the unhinged, slightly bonkers MDMA-caners-wet-dream club mix and the electronic-tinged sounds of the sketchy day after. Like many decent mix albums before it, the main strength in this album is its sheer unpredictability and refusal to adhere to the build-up/release formula inherent to many live sets. In fact, at times it leaves your brain feeling positively scattered.   

Thankfully ‘Perfect Night’ cuts to the chase and starts off nice and brutally with DJ K’s paranoia inducing ‘Plastic People’ and El Loco’s brooding ‘Ibiza.’ Then it’s a journey through squelchy acid (Cajmeer’s ‘Percolator’) off-kilter electronica (Misk’s aptly named ‘Vakuum Audi’) and relentless, pummelling techno (Adam Beyer’s ‘A Walking Contradiction part 1). Peaking midway through with the brilliant Hacker remix of ‘Freefall’ by Fixmer/McCarthy, it’s swiftly followed by the dubby Chemical Brothers b-side ‘Base 6’ before things get a bit weirder on our ass. Still hammering it out, the likes of Modeselektor’s ‘Hasir’ complete with screaming woman and breaks beats are just confounding. Ending it typically unconventional, we’re hit with classic early nineties old skool in the shape of Awesome 3’s ‘Don’t Go’, more meaty house a la Front 242’s ‘First In, First Out’, before ending with the unlikely yet brilliant ‘My Red Car’ by Squarepusher and the bizarre ‘Perfect Girl’ by Acromose.

Despite the Balearica-tinged red herring of ‘Shadows’ by Wagon Christ hinting that ‘Perfect Day’ may be a lush come-down compilation, there’s actually much more substance to this mix. The electronica gem that is ‘Metal Slave’ by Donato Dozzy typifies the dark moodiness of the opening segue, while later Jay Haze’s looping ‘Groove’ and Aphex Twin’s version of Curve’s ‘Falling Tree’ both border on the unlistenable. Yet amidst all this there are moments of beauty in the form of the Two Lone Swordsmen sublime mix of Saint Etienne’s ‘Heart Failed’ and the gorgeous electronic grooves of Richard Devine’s ‘Untitled A1’. Yet, for all its brilliant moments, ‘Perfect Day’ does at times get a bit overwhelming and, well, boring with the likes of Concept 1’s ‘08:00’ never threatening to take us anywhere interesting. Fortunately though, moving on it gets much stronger courtesy of the lush ‘Inside Your Heaven’ by Static and the spaced-out finale.