Everything But the Girl

Longtime music connoisseurs and taste-makers Everything but the Girl (aka Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn) were naturals to take over the stereo for a volume in the chillout mix series Back to Mine and, as could be expected, the mix is tasteful, wide-ranging, and above all, astonishingly well-paced. Beginning with a down-tempo hip-hop cut by French DJ Cam and moving into Slick Rick's excellent message track "All Alone (No One to Be With)," Back to Mine moves from jazzy rap and trip-hop into moody techno and deep house, with vocal tracks -- everyone from Beth Orton to Mary Margaret O'Hara to Donny Hathaway -- mixing very well with the instrumentals. Also appearing are two tracks by Detroit techno legends: a mix of "The Flow" by Juan Atkins' Model 500 and "A Wonderful Life" from Carl Craig's Landcruising LP of 1995. Back to Mine is an excellent addition to the scads of mix albums on the shelves, as conscious of perfect transitions and solid mixing as any out there. ~ John Bush, Rovi