Various Artists – Curation 03: Verraco

Most electronic compilations aren’t that great. Not only are they are often stuffed with second-rate material1, but these releases also tend to feel more like marketing exercises than coherent artistic statements.

“We’re launching a new label! Here’s a collection of tunes by 27 different artists who have little connection to us or each other, but we’re hoping to get a promotional boost when they all post about the record on social media.”

That’s obviously an exaggeration, but with people throughout the electronic music world now routinely employing somewhat more palatable versions of that compilation-related playbook, it’s not hard to understand why so many of these releases are so damn forgettable.

Curation 03: Verraco, however, is anything but forgettable. It’s excellent, and it’s actually just one installment of a six-part series from German collective / label / event promoter The Third Room. Where most people in their position would have selected the tunes themselves, The Third Room intriguingly decided to lean back a bit, drafting six different curators—aside from Verraco, they also signed up Oscar Mulero, D.Dan, Freddy K, Alarico and GiGi FM—and asking them all to assemble their own compilation EP. It was an unorthodox approach, and with each artist effectively presenting their own curatorial “take” on techno, the whole thing could have easily devolved into a messy, “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario.

But that didn’t happen. Yes, the various Curation EPs are all different, but taken as a whole, the series presents something close to a snapshot of modern techno. And while some corners of that snapshot are more rewarding than others, the space carved out by Verraco is genuinely thrilling. Considering that the Colombian producer is part of the TraTraTrax braintrust, his curatorial chops come as no surprise, but Curation 03 does take a confident step away from the so-called “Latin club” sphere with which he’s often affiliated. Though Verraco will likely never stop waving the flag for talented artists from Latin America and the Global South, his tastes transcend his identity, and he’s long made clear that he’s just as well versed in house, techno and the hardcore continuum as his European and North American peers.

That knowledge is immediately apparent on Curation 03, as the compilation opens with dub techno icons Substance and Vainqueur, who provide a driving and rather sleek (albeit still static-coated) rework of their 2007 cut “Libration.” Next up is Skee Mask, and while his mere presence on a record is enough to get people’s attention, his “Clear Sky 909” delivers, combining an upfront techno pulse while adorning its dreamily billowing atmospheres with a satisfying dose of digital crunch. 1morning’s “Untitled,” on the other hand, clears out the haze, bounding along atop a funky bassline and a shimmying, Latin-tinged groove, and Mexican artist Regal86 keeps that groove going with the percussion-heavy “PatumPa.”

All four of those tunes are a testament to Verraco’s ear, and they alone would have made for a perfectly good EP, but what truly ups the ante is the inclusion of his own “Untitled (Teamgeist Mix).” A collaboration with Berlin-based producer Tils, it’s an electric, rave-infused techno cut, one in which Verraco’s signature mammoth basslines cut across the dancefloor like a warm knife moving through butter. Though the song technically sits in the middle of Curation 03, it honestly feels like an exclamation point. At the very least, it’s a show of strength; Verraco may be sharing this EP with some of techno’s most formidable talents, but it’s no accident that he’s the one who got top billing.