A Global Underground Guide

It's not often that one company becomes an icon of an entire global movement, but it does happen. Global Underground has been a pinnacle of global dance music for over 10 years and continues to produce some of the best mixes in the world. With 30 (soon to be 31 with Adam Freeland's mix from Mexico City launching June 12th) mixes from world-class DJs as well as a few other series that expand on new territory, Global Underground is always in constant rotation in my iPod.

Here's a few thoughts for anyone interested in quality dance/house/trance.

Groundbreaking:

• GU001: Tony De Vit - Tel Aviv. The first GU, you feel the underground with this.
• GU023: James Lavelle - Barcelona. A completely new sound with plenty of gems.
• GU030: Nick Warren - Paris. His 7th installation, arguably his craftiest.

Classic:

• GU007: Paul Oakenfold - New York. Got me into the series, still a big fav.
  
• GU011: Nick Warren - Budapest. Made famous a lot of tunes, this one rocks.
  
• GU013: Sasha - Ibiza. The gold standard of the series. Worth 20x its price.

House Variants - From Bangin to Beauty:

• GU005: Tony De Vit - Tokyo. Bangin, dancin hard house
• GU009: Sasha - San Francisco. Creates an envy of both the DJ and the crowd.
• GU012: Dave Seaman - Buenos Aires. High class, progressive fuel for long flights.
• GU015: Darren Emerson - Uruguay. Hit play, dance for 2+ hours.
• GU027: Danny Howells - Miami. Disc 1 is THE sexy mood setter. Great with wine.
• GU028: Nick Warren - Shanghai. Covers a lot of ground and gets into your soul.
  

Soundtrack to being As Cool as Possible:

• GU018: Nick Warren - Amsterdam. Dark, funky, get-into-trouble stuff.
• GU020: Darren Emerson - Singapore. Even darker. Best with scotch or highways.
• GU025: Deep Dish - Toronto. Few will recognize what you're playing, but they'll all be on board.
  

Global Underground has also launched a few new veins over the years. The NuBreed, Prototype, and the Afterhours series have a few absolute crackers. Try on NuBreed 004 - Sander Kleinenberg for size (SK's Scorchio Remix is ooowee-good). Also, for the drive home or the very late snugglefest, be sure to have some Afterhours handy; Afterhours 3 brings me back to center.

More info, tracklists and general GU stuff at their site --> Here. (Launches in new window/tab)