Sun Factory 11

Album Review

Tycoon Records label founder, Montreal club owner, Virgin Radio host, and Canada's most successful dance DJ MC Mario returns with the 11th volume of his annual Sun Factory series, which has become his homeland's biggest floor-filler compilation since its inception in 2000. The Juno Award-winning French-Canadian, also responsible for the Mixdown, Most Wanted, and Party Mix series, has cherry-picked 18 of the biggest electro tunes of 2010, from remixes of chart pop hits (DJ Skeet Skeet's Radio Remix of Kesha's "Blah Blah Blah," Fonzerelli's Electro House Radio Mix of Adam Lambert's "Whataya Want from Me?"), to underground club hits (DJ Ortzy and Mark M.'s "Party in Miami," Nanchang Nancy and Prok & Fitch's "Walk with Me"), to Hi-NRG reworkings of some classic Parisian pop singles (Vanessa Paradis' "Joe Le Taxi," French Affair's "My Heart Goes Boom"). There are welcome reprises of some underrated '90s anthems such as Bellini's "Samba de Janeiro" (featured here in Manuel de la Mare's Smash "Samba All Night" version) and the Voyer Brothers and Hugh Drop's reworking of German electro-pop ice maiden Billie Ray Martin's "Your Loving Arms." But it's the original offerings that provide the highlights, such as DJ supergroup Swedish House Mafia's anthemic trance-pop of "One," Tim Berg's uplifting slice of vocal funky house "Bromance," and the Eastern European techno of DJ Layla's "Single Lady." Dance purists may scoff at the inclusion of MOR rockers Train, but Karmatronic's Chicane-esque dream-trance retooling of "Hey, Soul Sister" works surprisingly well, while Marco Calliari's cover of "We No Speak Americano" might not be the most credible way to kick off proceedings, but it's the only real blip on an album that consistently evokes the sun-kissed beaches of Ibiza and justifies Mario's lauded reputation at the same time. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi