- Since its founding in 1996 by drum & bass duo London Elektricity, Hospital Records has become a prominent force in both the genre's underground and overground worlds. Part of a realm of labels and entities pushing drum & bass into explicitly pop and quasi-mainstream territory (see also Breakbeat Kaos, RAM, et al.), Hospital has always been distinctly musical, more mindful of melody than masculinized aggression. Home to bona fide mainstream stars like High Contrast as well as cross-genre sensations like Netsky and Camo & Krooked, a compilation like Fifteen Years of Hospital would seem to have endless potential considering the label's vaunted and unusually diverse history.
Disc one, though, is instead devoted entirely to new material, and, to be honest, there's nothing particularly surprising or challenging here. The disc starts off well with High Contrast's VIP of "If We Ever"—pianos bubbling to the edge of ecstatic overflow—and the colourful vein continues with Fred V & Grafik's monstrous ballad "Find My Way" and Nu:Tone's careful remix of Adele's massive hit "Rolling in the Deep." Hospital in 2011 places just as much stock in midrange mayhem, however, to mixed results: Reso's roller-coaster "Voices from a Distant Star" is a lesson in brutal sound design but dubstep-influenced efforts from Camo & Krooked and TC are little else than noisy flailing.
There's a few surprises as well, moments that provide the compilation with its most hopeful moments: Logistics' steady roller "Closer" is doused in gorgeous analogue synth—unlike the rest of the roster's permanent overdrive—and Brazilian wunderkind S.P.Y. provides a disorienting five minutes of stomach-churning bass and gasping vocal samples with "Untold Future."
Disc two is given over to Cyantific for his "History of Hospital" mix, the kind of all-encompassing historical document that a compilation like this deserves. It delivers too: over the course of an hour we're treated to jazzy melodies, orchestral flourishes, disco grooves and outright pop, all held down by the ever-present foundation of relentlessly raucous drums and quaking basslines. It's dance pop that sacrifices none of the primacy of its underground origins, fierce and uncompromising but always with a friendly wink. Even when they're dealing with material that's consummately "uncool"—trance influences, big cheesy vocals, brostep elements—Hospital do it with such a confidence and finesse it's hard not to admire them for it anyway.
That's why, even if Fifteen Years of Hospital isn't a perfectly stunning compilation, it's a lovable one. Doing their own thing for almost fifteen years, they're bound to have their ups and downs, their stalls and their sudden bursts of forward motion. Fifteen catches them somewhere in between, nostalgically looking back but stubbornly defining their current stance through the typical assortment of odd ends and leftovers that makes up compilations like these. They're Hospital Records, and you probably either love them or hate them: Fifteen Years is only going to ground those feelings. Judging from the new material here, they're not about to change anytime soon.
TracklistCD1
01. High Contrast - If We Ever VIP
02. Rusko - Everyday Netsky VIP
03. Logistics - Closer
04. Reso - Voices From A Distant Star
05. Adele - Rolling In The Deep (Nu:Tone remix)
06. Danny Byrd feat. MC Risky - B.R.I.S.T.O.L.
07. Camo & Krooked - Reminisce
08. S.P.Y - Untold Future
09. London Elektricity - Song In The Key Of Knife VIP
10. TC - New Frontier
11. Fred V & Grafix - Find My Way
12. Blokhe4d & Gridlok - Dumptruck 1
13. Muffler - 4 Years
14. Royalston - Late Nights
15. N3gus - Swag Bag
CD2: Mixed by Cyantific
01. High Contrast - Return Of Forever / High Contrast - Globale Love (Calibre remix) - Danny Byrd Ill Behaviour
02. Logistics - Together
03. High Contrast - Global Love
04. Cyantific - Disconnected
05. Logistics - Call Me Back
06. Logistics - Winter Blues
07. Camo+Krooked - Climax
08. Nu:Tone feat. Natalie Williams - System (Matrix+Futurebound remix)
09. Cyantific & Logistics - Flashback / Cyantific & Tactile - Without Sound
10. High Contrast - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
11. Logistics - Summer Sun
12. London Elektricity - Out Of This World (DKay remix)
13. Q-Project - Slowly But Surely
14. London Elektricity - The Strangest Secret In The World
15. London Elektricity - Billion Dollar Gravy
16. High Contrast - Twilights Last Gleaming / Logistics - Red Sky At Night
17. Logistics - Toy Town
18. Danny Byrd - Changes (Calibre remix)
19. Nu:Tone - Missing Link
20. Danny Byrd feat. Brookes Bros - Gold Rush
21. Cyantific - Ghetto Blaster
22. Cyantific - Don't Follow / Syncopix - 8-Bit Blues
24. Netsky - Secret Agent
25. High Contrast - Tutti Frutti
26. Icicle - So Close
27. Apex feat. Ayah - Space Between - Logistics - Inside My Soul
28. London Elektricity - Wishing Well (Danny Byrd remix)
29. High Contrast - Basement Track
30. High Contrast - If We Ever / Danny Byrd - Shock Out / Cyantific - Little Green Men