VARIOUS ARTISTS Pool Position (Bungalow)

"Pool Position" claims to contain the cream of the last four years' worth of 12" output from Bungalow's DJ-friendly sidekick label Bungalow Pool, all mixed up (or rather not quite mixed, as the unusually modest press release is at pains to point out) by Bungalow head honchos Le Hammond Inferno. And if you can grant it enough player time to become totally au fait with its somewhat easy cheesy approach to dance music, "Pool Position" becomes a slippery addictive delight.

Although the geographic origins of the ten artists whose work is sampled herein isn't disclosed, the majority of "Pool Position" surfs vaguely similar sinewaves to the currently fashionable French Disko scene - think Daft Punk, Air, "Super Discount" and so on, and the way they rifle raw material from the past - whether it be just image, electronics or the musical building blocks themselves - and wrap it up into something shiny and futuristic. It almost sounds like the "Super Discount" album gatecrashing a Club 18-30 - the tunes here are far more garish than those assembled on Etienne De Crecy's groundbreaking conceptual compilation, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Highlights include the Machine Gun Ibiza mix of Dauerfisch's "Ride My Bike" - a proper song, with, like, lyrics and vocals and everything! - which eventually welds itself into your subconscious, Masonori Ikeda's marvellously loungetastic "Theme From Lupin The 3rd" and Fantastic Plastic Machine's tacky but fun "There Must Be An Angel" - yes, the Eurythmics song, and just because its been appropriated before (by Utah Saints) doesn't mean it can't be appropriated again.

No pretence, no grandstanding 'name' DJs, no spurious techno purity, if you give it the opportunity "Pool Position" eventually swells into a fun way to spend an hour - it won't overexert the grey matter, but you'll leave with a smile firmly etched on your fizzog.