Promised Land, Vol. 1

For all the millennial hoo-hah he wrapped his music in, L.T.J. Bukem never made it to the future, only holding on to his pop moment for, well, a moment. By the time Americans heard his easy-listening version of jungle, the Brits had stopped listening. That shouldn't undercut the importance of what he did, though (hey, junglists need to feel classy, too), and there's no better showcase for his urbane aesthetic than this '96 two-CD compilation, which features Bukem mixing the likes of Adam F and DJ Trace while MC Conrad gooses the music with his unmistakably minimalist interjections. "The beats go forward / The beats go back," Conrad announces at one point. Give Bukem and his acolytes credit: though their synth pads could get a bit gooey, they snuck some unpredictable rhythm tracks beneath the gauze. Other meaningful verse from two guys who always understood that you can shake a dance floor without beating it over the head: "You like the, you like the / Beats so loud / I like to, I like to / Move the crowd." --Jeff Salamon