4 out of 5

Label: Monkeytown Records

Produced by: Various

This is the kind of album that only works when you’ve earned it.  Not just a reputation – one which MoM has, of course, after 21 years in the biz and having worked with countless luminaries – but the confidence in experimentation the group has cultured over the years, from their initial Too Pure sound to all the different corners of electronica they’ve explored via collabos or their label or under different monikers.  Because ’21 Again’ might be a bit of a mess: inviting friends or people of interest to get in the mix with MoM, without much care for sticking to a genre or any kind of theme beyond picking a sound that works best and everyone touching it up to their desire.  But there’s a playfulness – an air of communication – apparent on the 2-disc set that keeps it moving.  Compare this to the very one-sided 26 Mixes for Cash project of Aphex Twin, which was, for all intents and purposes, an Aphex album; ‘Collaborations’ bears the mark of everyone involved, and the accompanying liner notes that outline what was chopped and touched aren’t so much eye-opening as: yeah, I can totally hear that.  The dialogue / happy birthday tracks scattered throughout might be flow-killer elsewhere, but it’s part of what adds to that vibe of this being an actual celebration of music and exploration.  So we get plenty of groove – (Fertilized, My Toe Is On Fire), big beat stuff (Off Sea), R&B (Putty Tart), glitchy IDM stuff (Errormom), more playful stuff (Metaloona Swamp), and more, and more, and it’s all gold for exactly whatever genre from which it comes.

In terms of sequencing, the first disc keeps the hype going through and through, whereas the second disc seems a bit more contemplative overall, perhaps only stalling when two experimental tracks – Pterion and Gitto Ski – are paired side by side.  But the slight tone shift between the two discs also allows you to know when you’ve ‘switched sides,’ so it’s a nice subtle way of breaking up the experience.

’21 Again,’ by its very nature, might lack some cohesiveness, and it’s definitely fun, so though the tracks are all pretty impressive, it might not have too much staying power beyond getting you to bob your head.  But it’s an impressive accomplishment for how it circles the group’s whole career but sounds fresh and modern at the same time, and manages to be a 2-disc set that actually needs the extra space to tell you its whole, exciting story.