ATFC - bigtime, bignoise, club friendly house

I've been on something of a dance detour in recent weeks. Last week I downloaded Defected Records' compilation of recent output from the house production unit ATFC - ATFC In The House London '10.  Dividing their time, as they all do, between guest remixes and inhouse originals, these guys have a big canvas, mass market, globalised view of the house scene and it's opportunities, though as a result they can end up sounding rather forumlaic. Predominately vocal and disco inflected, this is definitely the Ministry of Sound rather than the Fabric end of the spectrum.

 This kind of stuff is not something to consciously listen to, it's a background ambient effect that simply gets your body going. So it's great for working out to - energetic, uplifting, pacy.

Defected in general, and ATFC in particular are a reliable brand of quality clubland beats, rarely changing all that much. There's a general trend to an ever more digital, ever more compressed sound quality. But the blueprint is pretty constant - breaks, percussion, some bass, some synth, and intermittently a sampled vocal... all layered together in various structured combinations. It ain't rocket science, but nevertheless it's hard to do well.

Highlights at present are;
-  the head bendingly funky "Hey Hey" by Dennis Ferrer - quite insanely catchy like nothing I've heard since OutKast's planet shaking "Hey Ya". 
- ATFC's own "I Called You" - heavyweight action.
- Tonight by the H Foundation - as previously tweeted. cool urban soul.