Isolee Western Store Review

Germany's Rajko Müller is something of an outsider; a loner who prefers to find his own way to the groove rather than ask strangers - or even friends - for help.

Known primarily for his unlikely "Beau Mot Plage" anthem back in 1999 (plus a further flurry of oddly compelling dub-house-techno hybrids), Western Store aims to enlarge our understanding of Müllers kaleidoscopic vision by stringing together some of his previously released (vinyl-only) singles.

Opening with the off kilter rhythms of "Bleu", his maze-like structures unfurl organically in all directions at once, leaving spaced out vapour trails of dub-weighted basslines, alien bleeps and spastic rhythms.

Tracks such as the lush "Initiate II", the eerily tribal "Rocker", the laid back "Monitor" and the impressively ambitious "Lost" create a series of phantasmagorical shapes that reveal a universe of influences and a captivating micro-world of detail.

To his eternal credit, the collection sounds more like the missing link between Isolee's debut album Rest and the more recent We Are Monsters than a singles collection.

The only dubious inclusion is Freeform Five's world music remix of "Beau Mot Plage" a solid track, but not as spine-tingling as the original.