Party-Keller, Vol. 2 CD

The second volume of Florian Keller's crate-digging Party-Keller series is filled with yet more funky rare grooves from yesteryear. This time, the selections are even more obscure, though no less alluring. The opener, Charmaine Burnette's "(Am I The) Same Girl," is typical: dating back to 1981 and published by Interworld Ltd., the reggae song liberally quotes the trademark horn riff from Dynasty's "Adventures in the Land of Music" (1980) -- best known for being sampled by Camp Lo for "Luchini aka This Is It" and, most infamously, by 2 Live Crew on As Nasty as They Wanna Be ("Coolin'") -- and immediately establishes the semi-bootleg tone of the album. One of the other noteworthy highlights here is Lefties Soul Connection's "Organ Donor," which is a take on DJ Shadow's song of the same name, itself in turn a take on Giorgio Moroder's "Tears" (1972), which Keller had included on his previous volume. This recycled approach to music-making is well evident throughout Party-Keller, Vol. 2 -- even if most, if not all, of the songs here are unfamiliar, they'll likely sound familiar in style. The mixing from track to track is smooth if not especially dexterous, but this keeps the focus on the songs themselves rather than Keller, who plays the role of selector here rather than turntable technician. His efforts result in another fun CD that is refreshingly distinct from the majority of DJ mix albums out there, and it's fitting that an eclectic label like Compost would back a project like this. ~ Jason Birchmeier