Various Artists - 'Final Song 01' (Get Physical) Released 06/02/09

Get Physical’s latest compilation is certainly a novel one. Label boss, Marcus Fink, dreamed up the idea of asking DJs for the last song they’d like to hear before they die or alternatively the one that they wish to be played at their funeral. Desert island discs – the long running Radio 4 programme – has seen many a politician and celebrity figurehead pick their top10 records but wittingly this down to one is no mean feat. It must be said that a number of artists refused to take part, taboos are taboos after all.

In all 60 artists were asked to take part and the resultant 13-track LP is as eclectic and interesting and Fink could have hoped for.

Gilles Peterson had one ready having apparently already asked his long-serving MC Rob Gallagher to perform ‘Little One’ – the last track on Galliano’s 1995 ‘The Plot Thickens’ LP. The repeated lyric ‘she’s wondering which way to go’ couldn’t be more apt. Chloe choices the first record she ever released. ‘Paradise,’ she says “is that feeling inside, as our souls gently float away after death; the perfect beginning to a perfect end,” or self promotion for the cynical amongst us.

Choices range from the downbeat ‘Sit Down Stand Up’ by Radiohead (Laurent Garnier) to ‘The Strangler’s ‘Golden Brown’ – DJ Hell’s choice to get everybody dancing in the cemetery. And why not. Though it is two of the modern era’s most influential DJs that really deliver here. Ritchie Hawtin’s choice is nothing short of sublime. Originally released in 1992, ‘Amenity’ was old school techno before it’s time. A timeless organ-like melody brimming with break-ish beats it truly is masterful. As if we’d expect anything less from the M-nus label boss.

Though it is his Cocoon cohort who pips him to the post. Ricardo Villalobos, the Chilean producer, serves up Inti Illimani’s ‘Caramba, Yo Soy Dueno del Baron?’ A history lesson here, ‘Inti Illimani’ were a Chilean folk group formed by students in the late 1960s to promote democracy. Having exiled to Italy in fear of their lives, they returned in the late ‘80s to tour the country once more. The track is both melancholic and joyful and evokes feelings of pride, tradition and fortune. Like Villalobos’ sets, you can’t really argue with that.

The long running ‘Back To Mine’ series was heralded as an insight into the DJs mind in their comfort zone. Understanding someone’s music tastes is vis a vis a portal into their mind yet this ‘Get Physical’ release manages to go one step further. Sure, you can take this as far as you want in terms of breaking down identities and merging the infinite but in terms of a compilation album this one is effortlessly cool. Though you might have to look a bit further than play.com for ‘Inti Illimani’s’ back catalogue.