Despite the rather Oasis-like, 'up yours' picture, these two are clearly capable of some quite emotive, quality music. Their inclusion in Nick Warren's (teriffic) Global Underground #028 in Shanghai, in the form of Horrowitz, marks this. The mix into it on said album is just gorgeous.

I don't imagine many people will stumble onto this page but anyone who does would be well advised to listen to Haunting Me - the best house track of all time! Everything's right in this one, and Derek Conyer's vocals are teriffic.

Get it on Shindig or IHWT2 (see albums list above) - they're good compiliations and the Yoshitoshi's IHWT series is one of the most reliable house outfits around.

People moan about this guy being voted world's best DJ purely for one humanistic reason: there is an inclination to view popularity with "selling out". Once someone leaves the confines of a small underground circuit and a conniosour following, they're deemed to be rubbish. Commercial. Such people don't like the idea of respecting someone who - shock horror - is known about.

Not so in this case. His popularity is down entirely to his sets. He's still just a guy who chucks a t-shirt on and mixes a lot of decent trance. What's more he writes, and writes well. His own albums are quality, and his Olympic set was a comprehensive work encompassing a lot of themes related to the Olympics. It wasn't just another trance set. Likewise Sweet Mysery and Walking in Clouds, on his album Just Be, are involved, moving pieces.

Tiesto has a teriffic ability to create intensity and really hit you with his industrial style trance. His Adajio for Strings exemplifies this. The American minimalist composers would be proud: minimum material but used to insane effect.

Mr Jay is largely correct about MOS, though in fairness we should remember the good things about them. For one, they are the biggest name in all-encompassing dance music in the UK. They may focus on the commercial stuff, but that's how many of us got into the proper house/trance. They are an accessible entry into the wider world of this genre, a function immitated in other genres too.

Seconldly it's not all pap, as some have pointed out. Their club is decent (it's pricey but they play an intelligent mix in there rather than the contents of their Annuals) and their online radio is very good - diverse in output and respected. OK the shows are sub-contracted at least they're associating themselves with good music and putting out for free.

But, yes there are downpoints. They used to be choice; now they're at the bottom of people's CD collections. They don't help themselves with their relentless push for money by releasing the same songs (the same track can appear on so many CDs - some supposedly successors to others in a series). And their label often justifies the widespread cynism about dance music: that is is full of talentless girls singing provactively in sex-driven music vids.