Desert/Various

Progressive house has been much maligned in the past year or two for its lack of energy, often with good reason. But the Future Groove label must be doing something right, to get together a compilation of their tracks that isn’t dull at all. There are plenty of fine tough and pumping house tracks on this mix, including Deadbeat Society’s "Flick’s Theme,” Inertia’s "Vellum” and Vic20 & Sinclair’s "Nikita.” Topping them all off is Powder Productions’ "Acid Haze,” a maelstrom of acid funk and whomping beats. The English duo Desert has chosen and sequenced these tracks wisely, moving from relatively mild tracks in the first 20 minutes to tougher grooves, before the really big beats finish things off. Not bad at all.