Various - Warp20 (Box Set)

OK, first of all, there is WAY too much music here for me to stop by and review. However, if you are a fan of Warp and a competent conoisseur of electronic music, a fair chunk of these artist names and tracks will light a bulb in your head. More to the point: this is loaded with classic music from start to finish. Anything else I could have added to better fit the description would have been superfluous. You know Warp? You know their sytle and their reputation? Good. You will get enough Warp here to last you three life times. This is "creme de la creme" of a label whoose importance rose above and beyond the mere limits of techno music, this is 20 years of continous hard work and constant input recorded, recollected and gathered in one place.
The package. Warp have raised the bar to insane heights this time around. There are five pieces of vinyl (with the amazing Warp logo etchings) and 5 compact discs loaded with quality material. Unreleased tunes, locked grooves, flawless DJ mix, reworks, carefully selected greatest hits and what not - you name it! To top it all off, it is packaged in 10" folders, with a booklet which covers the entire twenty year run of Warp, through pictures of their release catalogue. There is enough material here to keep you occupied for hours. You can listen, you can skim along or just let the box set reside on your shelf and admire.
Seriously, this time around Warp have eliminated the competition, big time. Enough territory and styles are visited throughout, that it is safe to say this blurres genres, brings together many forms of tastes and evokes many sweet and fond memories from various stops electronic music has made during the past two decades.
I am sure this will draw fans of electronic music from virtually all of its ramifications and compell many listeners to buy it, if not for the unbelievable tracklist, then emotions will prevail, and people will just let their impulsive temper convince them to place the purchase.
To conclude, I have no idea for how long has this one been in the making, but chances are slim any label will outdo what Warp has treated us to right here for years to come. Everything has been handled with care, we are provided with real creativity and art, but when I say art, I don't imply only the musical side of things, because true craftmanship has been injected in both, the music and the gorgeous package. Essential!

Ah yes, and if people would sell CDs in 10Inch folders, I'd even buy CDs again. The packaging is ground-breaking and pure beauty. It's like opening a book and finding a silver sound treasure instead of letters. The haptic sensation of the release feels like loosing the ground under your feet. Though the box itself is quite tensely packed. It's hard to get the release out of the box. But once you got it you are just daaaaancing, yeah!

This one is massive. Whoever releases a collector's edition after this has to beat this high standard! And whoever sells this nice package (and in particular for only 200 €) is out of his/her mind. The locked grooves are even in identical speed, so mixing is just easy and total fun since you can switch from one loop to another in a second. The unheard songs are great to. No gap filler here. Pure golden sounds. And Osymyso's mix is incredible. Never beat the beat smith (as Amon Tobin once rightly said).