Various - Chinese Whispers (Sprawl)

In the last breath of the millennium, it's beginning to become clear that DJs have become the curators of modern music and with that remixers are the most important artists. At least that was the view from the likes of DJ Spooky and Brian Eno at last year's Hypersymposium at the South Bank's 'Now You See It' festival. Perhaps the proof (hit the roof) of the pudding will be in the listening to Chinese Whispers from the Sprawl collective. Here a host of celebs from the Sprawl club (bang down the door) have spent a whole year remixing mixes of each other.

This is a compilation reminiscent of Endlessnessism, which appeared last year on Sweden's Dot Records and actually billed itself as "the musical equivalent of Chinese whispers or an Olympic relay race". On this compilation, Si Begg, Subtropic, T-Power, Stereolab, Sons Of Silence, Bedouin Ascent, Ultramarine, Mike Paradinas and Slang are all in evidence. But is it actually music? Well the mix from Slang certainly is - very mixable and down to earth. Mike Paradinas turns in something as confidently mad as you would expect, as do Ultramarine. T-Power's track is truly experimental and, like Si Begg's, beat-based yet always pushing the envelope.such albums of thought and theme plugged into one mixed-up melting pot of beginning, middle and end really be the future? Total recycling! The musical equivalent of what we do with air and water every day. Fingers crossed Chinese Whispers itself becomes an on-going project - here's to Volume 2. 10/10