Points in Time 6 [Audio CD] Various Artists

LTJ Bukem's breakbeat anthology reaches its sixth volume; this time primarily orientated around the labels back catalogue circa 1998. Around the time of the demise of West London drum and bass hangout Speed, the records released around this period are noticeably less optimistic than those that preceded them with the artists who had helped shaped the label replaced by a batch of new producers in the form of Big Bud, Seba and Artemis. Though tracks like Bukem's timeless "Horizons" and the razor sharp breaks which scythe through the future-bound synthetics of "Visions Of Mars" lift the standard, there is no disguising that some of these signings were still seeking out their own sound with a plethora of tired synth sounds, well worn percussives and a failure to move beyond the original premise leaving Big Bud's "Emotionography" and Seba's "Camouflage" strong for the clubs but sounding dated within this compilation guise.-Kingsley Marshall